The Wanderer's Pillow
by Mauztattoo
Summary: Completed!Our author continues the battle with chapter management to present this story. In his early days of wandering, an exhausted Kenshin reaches out to help a stranger. Will he be saved as well? Rated R for Language,Violence and Sexual si
1. Default Chapter

The Wanderers' Pillow

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. If they did, I would at least get Kenshin a new outfit once in a while.

This takes place long before the Anime, so how do you know it's OOC ?

Chapter 1: A Miserable Night: Early Fall of 1869

Kenshin Himura dropped his bag down on the roadside and slumped beside it. He had been traveling almost nineteen months since he left the Revolution behind, trying to help people who had been hurt as a result of war. Village after village, farm after farm, of starving ,suspicious people who now viewed every stranger with fear. The last little place had been particularly sad. He had been able to rid them of the bandits who were a plague, but not in time to save some of the littlest ones, who had died of malnutrition. It seemed that he could make no difference with the reverse blade sword he carried; that he didn't matter whether he was alive or dead, he couldn't save anyone ,nor stop their pain.

A distant rumble in the dark sky promised a bad storm. He should have gotten off the road before sunset to make camp; but somehow he just couldn't face it. Without shelter, he would be soaked and chilled to the bone, perhaps even die of exposure; he wasn't sure he cared. He dropped his head onto his knees, just a little bundle of misery by the road.

Shuffling and grunting sounds of several men came towards him up the road from Chibimizu three or four miles distant. Kenshin also heard muffled swearing and struggling. Invisable,he stood up in time for a flash of distant lighting to show him four men carrying a wriggling cocoon between them.

"Kami, this bitch is heavy!"

" We're far enough away now. Let's drop the foreign bitch and show her what will happen if she doesn't shut up and co- operate !"

Before Kenshin could move, the men dropped the bundle with a thud. There was a ripping sound, a flash of steel, and one of the men sprang back, clutching his right arm.

"Shit! The bitch has a knife! She cut right through the futon!"

"That's it! The foreigners' can ransom a corpse, this bitch is dead!"

Another lighting flash showed Kenshin a tall figure in a white robe standing at bay among the men. A knife was in the shape's right hand, glittering in the more frequent lightning flashes that announced the approaching storm. One of the bandits began to pull his sword and the others yelled obscene threats. Kenshin was upon them before the blade had cleared the sheath. Three were face down in seconds. The wounded man gave a cry and ran back the way he had come, and Kenshin let him run. He turned towards the figure in white as the lightning cracked overhead. It was a foreign woman, taller than any woman he had ever dreamed of seeing, barefoot and panting for breath.

"Are you all right, Honorable Foreign Lady?"

"I've had better nights. Thanks for the help." She looked down the road," We'd better get out of here . Those bastards kidnapped me from the inn at Chibimizu and I couldn't get my blade out till they dropped me."

"I will escort you back to the inn, that I will. Please come with me."

Rain and lightning came together as the tall woman shook her head," They were just the group sent on ahead with me while the rest dealt with my escort. I don't know how many are behind us, but I won't go running back into their arms. We've got to get off the road until broad day when it will be safe to head back." She bent down to pick up the dark futon cover she had been carried in. Kenshin heard a rip, and the white robe was mostly covered by the improvised poncho.

"Come on little man, let's run!"

"ORO!!"

My first ever chapter! I made up the name of the spring, and probably won't use too many Japanese terms as I would rather not insult a language by messing it up.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Wet clothes and cold heart

I almost forgot to disclaim! I disclaim everything! Watsuki-san please forgive me! Thanks to gaby and Princess of star for their previous reviews. Please try again with this,it's a lot longer now.

Kenshin felt a hand grab his wrist and just had a second to grab his bag before he was dragged down the road at a good clip. He tried to remember the last time he was in this area, three years ago. Wasn't there a hut? Distant shouts came from behind as they ran through the now pouring rain, bolts of lightening showing their road. This sharp turn-yes two more turns and they'd be near the place he remembered. Sounds faded as they kept going, soaked and stumbling, away from pursuit. Yes, this was the turn! Kenshin pulled the woman's sleeve and they left the road, parting bushes onto a nearly gone track through the wood. Another few hundred yards and the storm showed Kenshin the hut he remembered, rickety, but still mostly upright. He took the lead now, bringing the woman through the low door (she nearly had to double over to get through) and at least mostly out of the storm.

The roof over the entrance was leaking heavily, but the part over the raised inside platform was fairly whole. Kenshin stepped up and helped the panting woman after him.

The storm's light showed him a pile of dried grasses in the corner, and he led the woman to it. She sat down heavily, and the next flash showed her peering up at him.

"Where are we?"

"This hut is used during the season for gathering wild foods. It will be deserted now and few know it exists. We should be safe for a while. Are you hurt, Noble Lady?"

"My feet will let me know about this abuse but otherwise I am fine. Excuse my asking, young man, but are you a native of Japan? Your hair looks very light when I see it in the flashes."

"This unworthy wanderer's hair is red, but he is a true son of Japan, Lady." It wasn't the first time his hair had caused comment from Westerners. He didn't now why it was red, it just was. He walked over to the tiny window to peer out into darkness. "We appear to have escaped." A tearing sound came from the grass bed," What are you doing, Lady?"

"Cutting strips off this nightgown to wrap my feet. It would be pretty sad to escape from kidnappers only to die of pneumonia." The tearing sound continued and Kenshin could hear her begin to wrap her feet in the cloth. He was impressed. She must have had a very bad fright, but this woman wasn't cringing or crying. Her Japanese was very good as well, with an accent that sounded familiar-unlike the stilted Japanese he had heard spoken by his Commander's Western advisors. He began to shake. Now that the excitement was over, his soaking clothes were freezing. He was exhausted, cold, and heartsick all at once. If it wasn't for the woman depending on his help, he could have just lain down and let himself go into the world of shadows. Kenshin crouched by the wall, wrapping his arms around his sword.

"Please try to rest. Lady. When dawn comes we will go back to your friends, we will." He heard her creeping towards him across the floor, and suddenly, a warm hand was on his cheek.

"You are freezing, young man! Come away from that window and sit here by me." She tugged him back towards the grass bed by his sleeve," It wouldn't be proper thanks for your help to let you turn into an icicle." Kenshin heard her stand up, the rustle of cloth ,and the futon cover dropping to the floor. "Here, we'll share a bedroll, since we don't dare start a fire with those bandits out searching. Come here, please."

Share a bed! With a strange woman, a foreign woman! Kenshin's head began to spin. The woman took the opportunity to pull him next to her on half of the futon, his back to her front, flipping the other half over them. "Wet clothes or not, it will still be a lot warmer this way. Don't you dare try to get up?" Kenshin stopped struggling;" I will take it as a personal insult if you die of cold and you certainly don't want to insult a visitor, do you?" Kenshin lay straight as a board, hearing her soft breathing behind him. Kami,but she was warm! Warmth began to seep back into his body and he began to relax despite himself. It had been so long since he was warm, it seemed. His body felt heavy and numb, but the warmth was reaching into his center now, especially after the woman curved her body to cup his more closely. At the same time, he felt a struggle inside, almost as if he were choking.

"Are you all right, little one?' said a soft voice in his ear.

And Kenshin Himura, the Wanderer, the Battousai, burst into weeping.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three: A Lifeline and "Little Red"

I continue to disclaim ownership of any Rurouni Kenshin characters! I do claim ownership of a 97' Chevy!

Kenshin didn't know where the weeping came from; it just seemed to spring out through a dark place inside him. He wept for his lost wife, his lost childhood, his lost ideals, the lives he had taken and those he could not save, the deaths in the past and the deaths to come. He wept until all it was he could do was weep, falling in a blackness that would overwhelm and take him to hell. He couldn't stop even when he began to lose his breath. The woman who held him was questioning him anxiously, but he couldn't stop weeping to answer her. She moved around in the blanket, and something heavy and covered with cloth was pushed up past his head. The woman took him firmly and turned him around into her shoulder, where he continued to gasp and weep. He knew if he didn't stop, he would die, but he had no strength left...

Georgina Boldt was shocked when the shivering man next to her began to weep. The sobs were deep and tearing, ugly in a way only a despairing man's weeping is ugly, and went on and on. He didn't seem to hear her, didn't feel as she pulled off the money belt/knife sheath she wore about her waist and turned him into her arms to try and comfort him. The sobs continued, growing quieter only because the man was now struggling for breath. "Hysteria ", she thought," what in the hell am I going to do?" From the way he had taken care of the bandits, she knew this man was a warrior, and that slapping him to bring him out might make things far worse-what to do? "Why does this feel familiar?" she thought desperately.

Fredrick. When Fredrick had come back from the war, a gentle man full of pain and despair, this had happened with him as well! Striking him was also out of the question, and she had found a way through to him that had shocked him back to her. She couldn't let this young, brave man suffer so either. Georgina held the tear streaked face in her hands and covered the sobbing mouth with her own.

The strange contact penetrated through Kenshin's fog. What was this? Was she trying to breathe life into him? She was so kind, but there was no hope, no hope anymore. She kept moving her lips over his mouth and cheeks, moving her hands over his body. Oh, she was so warm! He had never been so cold and he clung to her warmth; the warmth that began to spread into him, filling him, pushing the darkness away. She was flame, and she coaxed his own fire back from a dying spark. He was falling-falling into a flame that did not burn, but welcomed and consumed his own fire with strength and tenderness. Then he knew nothing.

The sound of rain pounding on the roof was the first thing Kenshin noticed. He opened his eyes to peer in to the dim space above him. Where was he? He was warm, and under shelter-that was good-but what? Kenshin shot up into a sit and looked around him. He was alone in the hut. Had it been a dream? He looked own on the dark blue silk of the futon clutched in his hand. That was real, and it wasn't his! Where was she? His sakabatou was by his side, his gi and hakima hung onto wall pegs as if to dry. Had she tried to go back on her own? Why? The fog in his head began to clear and he suddenly had a very clear memory of what had happened. Oh,Kami ! What had he done-he had taken advantage of a stranger and forced her to run away into the storm! He was a terrible criminal! He clutched the quilt to his chest.

He heard steps behind him and forced himself to turn around. Was it the police already? The tall woman stood just inside the low door, shaking rain off her hair. She wore a tattered straw rain coat and carried a small wooden basin. She looked over to him, but he couldn't quite see her face.

"You weren't lying about the hair, were you Little Red."

Three chapters done!


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Persimmons and Rainwater

I disclaim owning Rurouni Kenshin ! I would like to own him, but my gerbils would just be jealous.

In a flash Kenshin was crouched, in the most humble position possible, on the edge of the platform before the surprised woman. Naked, his flaming hair spilling down, he begged her forgiveness abjectly, frantically, as a continuous breathless stream of jumbled words.

Georgina was taken aback. She had left her sleeping companion to scout around for a little food and water out in the pouring rain. She was bringing in her prizes when the man she had left peacefully sleeping was suddenly crouching by her knees, apologizing and saying he deserved all sorts of horrific punishments, most of which seemed to involve fire and maiming! She knelt down by his side and reached out to touch his shoulder, but he scuttled backwards, still apologizing. That was it! Georgina stood up to her full height, hauling the slight form up as well to face her, and shook him, hard!

"Get a grip on things, Red! We don't need any more conniptions you little fool!" The man stopped and hung limply in her grip, unable to look her in the eye. She turned his face to hers." I'll let you know when and if I feel I've been insulted-Look at me!"

Kenshin had to look up to meet her eyes, and stopped, transfixed. He had never seen a Western woman before, nor any Western man with eyes like this! The angry eyes that bored into him were as clear as a pool of water in autumn and like that pool, were full of flashes of gold,brown,black and green. When she met his gaze, her eyes became kind, and a lopsided smile appeared on her closed lips. She guided him back to the futon and sat him down, then turned back for the basin and several small things in a little rag she'd brought in. Sitting by his side, she tucked the quilt around them as much as possible and offered Kenshin the wooden basin. "Here, I found this and cleaned it out to catch rainwater while I looked for something to eat. I've got some persimmons, they're a little shriveled, but not spoiled and they should be sweet."

Kenshin looked at the basin. He felt frozen and numb, like if he had been hit hard on the head. A second after, her voice came sharp and hard as a slap. "I didn't go to this trouble to let you just stare, Red! Take a drink!" The water was cool, and Kenshin's sore throat was grateful for it. A persimmon was pressed into his hand, and he met with a hard stare until he began to eat. It was a little shriveled, halfway to being dried, but very sweet. The woman beside him sipped water and bit into her own fruit. "We seemed to be a little backwards in this relationship, Red. I usually at least _try_ to get a name first before I get drilled." Kenshin began to choke and she rubbed his back, but she was laughing, and he had to laugh too. "My name is Georgina Boldt."

"Jeoljina Boat ?"

"You do just about as well as anyone else does the first time here. I tell people to just say Gina."

"Thank you, Noble Lady Jina. This worthless wanderer's name is Himura Kenshin, that it is." He stopped at the odd look on her face,"What is it,Noble Lady?"

"Do you have a speech impediment?"

"No."

"Then why do you sound like a Nanking pimp? Miss Gina, is fine, Mr. Kenshin, and don't speak poorly of yourself before a woman who is so grateful for your help! Don't hold yourself as worthless, Red, because you certainly are not!" She softened this speech with that oddly tender lopsided smile. "I find no complaint to be made about your fighting, hiding, or any other skills you have displayed to me. If what happened between us is an insult, as you seem to think, I have rarely been so well or thoroughly insulted!"

"I don't know why it happened, Lady Jina, but I am so very sorry ."

"It happened because it needed to happen and I let it happen. You were slipping away into the dark, and I wasn't about to let you go. That's all. Besides it certainly helped to warm us up! We didn't even need to think of a fire, did we?"

Kenshin blushed as red as his hair, but he had to smile along with her. It soon turned to giggling as she seemed to want to pinch and tickle him and he joined in the game. He hadn't laughed in a very long time, and it sounded strange in his ears. Her laugh was different from the women he had known. Full-throated, a little low, and she made no attempt to hide either her laugh or her smile with her hand. This woman had no fear of laughter or showing her emotions at all. How strange and different.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five: How to insult a "Persimmon"

As G-d is my witness, I will never claim Rurouni Kenshin again!!

Laughing so hard made Kenshin realize there were other things he needed to do. He started to get up, realized he was naked and sat back down fast, blushing furiously. "Jina" looked at him and then smiled, stood and walked over to where his gi was hanging. "This is still damp, but not as soaked as the pants. I'll toss it too you and then hide my eyes from peeping at your manly charms." She tossed him the damp cloth and turned her back as Kenshin pulled the garment on and headed for the door. He had just finished when lightning again split the sky and the rain pounded even harder. Kenshin rushed back into the door, shivering. Jina was sitting on the futon, eyeing the remaining four persimmons. "Good thing you got back before I ate these up, I don't have enough will power when I'm alone." Kenshin hurried back to her side and was wrapped up the quilt again.

"You like persimmons, do you, Miss Jina?"

She laughed."When I was a little girl, Honorable Uncle Chou said if any ate too many persimmons I would turn into a tree! Honorable Uncle Big Huang said ,'Doesn't she have enough problems with being a big footed, big nosed, loud girl without you wishing that on her!'"

"You are from China?!"

"No, California. That's a state-like a province here,-in America. Back then it was Gold Rush territory and men from all over the world came to the fields. Most didn't find anything but hard work. My mother was one of the few "respectable"women, and she found that cooking and running a sort of hotel paid a lot better than Father's mining. He took it up too and they added what staff they could, mostly Chinese men who really needed the job. After Mother died, Father was so bitter and busy that those men pretty much took over raising me. I spoke more Chinese than English till I was fourteen - three dialects. I can swear in five. They also taught me to read and write it. After Father married again and we moved to San Francisco ,I learned Japanese. Japanese is lucky for me-that's how I met the best man in the world-my husband, Fredrick."

HUSBAND!! Kenshin's mind screamed-not only had he had relations with a foreign woman-she was a MARRIED foreign woman!! Visions of huge, angry Western men with big Western guns swam before his eyes, and he almost pitched into Jina's lap.

"What's wrong, Red!"

"You are MARRIED!"

"Yes, you didn't think a Western woman came out here all by herself did you. Even if I am thirty-five, they wouldn't have let me come if I wasn't married and Fredrick hadn't insisted."

THIRTY-FIVE!!! This time, Kenshin did black out.

Kenshin came to lying stretched out in Jina's arms, both of them back lying under the futon like last night,. The thunder and pounding rain continued, and Kenshin knew traveling in this sort of storm would be as dangerous as the bandit gang. He looked up into the marvelous eyes of the woman holding him and settled back with a sigh.

"What was the conniption fit for this time?"

"I was surprised to find out that Miss Jina was married, and th-thirty-five, I was. You do not look that age ,no you don't"

"Well, how old are you, Mr. Kenshin?"

"I think I am not yet quite twenty years old, but I'm not sure."

"Holy Mother, I've robbed the cradle! I was just hoping you looked young, not that you _were_ young." She paused to think, and added with a smile, "That would certainly explain your energy though. You are quite a busy little worker, you are. But fifteen years difference, yes I could see that it might give you a shock that such an old lady could keep up with you, hmm?"

"Miss Jina is like the persimmons, a little old, but all the sweeter for it!"

Kenshin began to laugh till he looked up into a scowl that made him flinch and curse himself for being thoughtless.

"Mr.Red, I do believe I've been insulted, and there is only one thing I can do."

"What is that, Miss Jina?"

The face over his was warming by a devilish smile."Why, insult you back, of course!" She dipped her head and once again pressed her lips against Kenshin's. This time the surprise was how wonderful lips could feel when touching like this.


	6. Chapter Six

The Wanderer's Pillow Chapter Six: Need – and questions.

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin; although I would like to rent Saitou out for a long weekend!! ("I'll bring the feathers—you bring the honey and the whip.")

Kenshin had heard some talk of this Western custom-mouth against mouth- from the loose talk of some of his Commander's guards as they whiled away the time between acts of war. "They must lick each other all over the face like dogs. –Well, why not, they smell and look like hairy animals anyway." A very high class courtesan had charged his Commander triple fee to entertain one-just in case he tried such a nasty act. He hadn't heard how that turned out. But maybe Western women did it differently than men? The soft brushes and nibbles over his lips and chin were certainly not nasty; in fact, they made him feel sort of shivery within. He was warm now, so it couldn't be the cold—it had to be the touch. He tried to move his lips like she did, and that only made the feeling stronger and better.

Then something hot and wet brushed his mouth. She _was_ licking him! He tried to pull back, but she murmured for him to relax –she wouldn't do anything he wouldn't like. Kenshin held still as the soft, hot wetness brushed between his lips and suddenly remembered last night. She had done this as well, hadn't she? Her tongue passed his lips into his mouth and as she caressed his tongue and lips with hers he went beyond shivering-he began to shake at the wonderful surge of feeling that swept up from deep within. He looked up into her eyes as she broke off the kiss. No other woman had ever looked at him as she did, a look of determination, almost a look of hunger.

Georgina dropped back in for another long kiss. The little redhead was catching on quickly! She began to caress him with her free right hand, curving down his side and hip, along the outside of his leg and back up through the inside curve, just brushing against the growing hardness there. The boy wriggled at the touch and pulled her closer, begging her wordlessly to invade even deeper into his mouth. Pulling her left arm out from beneath him, she raised herself to hands and knees in order to range more freely over the slender, but muscled body. She was kneeling on the sleeve of his gi –his arm was pinned- off with the cloth to free his arms. Georgina sat back on her heels to gaze down at the naked Kenshin and ran her hands slowly up and down him from toes to head as slowly and carefully as possible. His was getting ready now, breaths coming short, but her gaze on his body made him feel shy, as if he was doing something wrong. Her head dipped down to his navel and he jumped when the hot wetness of her tongue touched his chilled flesh. She slid lower. "Oh-what is she doing—she shouldn't—how would a man marry such a woman as this, one who would do such a. thing…as ---Oh!!!! How could a man— _not _marry a woman who could do this!!!" He reached down to stroke the dark hair that blanketed her face from his view and as he drew his hand back, she came up with it, scattering licks, kisses and gentle bites all the way up his body till she was back at his mouth. Her taste was of persimmons and salt from his skin-- he could not get enough of her taste. He had never tasted anything like this woman's kiss. The few women he had known flashed through his mind-he couldn't imagine doing this with any of them. Most were empty vessels—provided as a job perk because it was thought to be good for a swordsman's mind to unsheathe a different sort of blade every once in a while. He had used them almost with out thinking, emptying himself into them with no concern except for his own relief. And Tomoe—with her, he had been shy, wishing to make her happy, not knowing how—and she had been a good, proper, submissive wife. Thinking of the past, he began to flag, but then Jina did something wonderful with a quick twist of her hand which wiped away all thoughts but pleasure. Her breathing was ragged as well, and she gave him another of those searing, hungry stares as she touched him again in places which made him arch his back to meet her hand.

Georgina had felt him start to drift away from her, but she knew a way to bring any man's attention back to the business at hand, and it worked, as always. Growing up in the goldfields she had been in contact with only two types of women—the few"good"women who never talked about lovemaking and the more common "bad" women, who talked about little else. Hungry for women's voices in a world of men she had befriended some of these women who's job was to give pleasure but seemed to have so little of it themselves. She heard about all of the tricks-ways to get an unpleasant client out of the way faster, how to keep an attractive client longer, how to make a really big tip! There wasn't much room for innocence in that rough world and what little there was only a handicap and a bother. Her body had stayed "pure" until Fredrick, but she knew enough tricks to leave him shocked and breathless that first time-and all the more eager to return to her arms. Pulling off her linen shift she slid across Kenshin's hips until they were joined as one, then she began to move , leaning on her arms over him,looking down into his face as she rocked back and forth.

Kenshin was not expecting this, looking up at a woman was something he had never done. But her heavy breasts were swaying so invitingly over him. He reached up to cup them in his hands, brushing his thumbs over the hardness, and was rewarded with an even more pleasurable tightness and warmth. He leaned upwards and took one into his mouth, suckling as the sensation became even more intense and the pleasure rose up until it burst out of him with a cry. She pushed him back down and continued to rock until her own panting whispers stopped and she was still, head hanging and breathing hard. She slid away back to his side and drew the quilt over them once more as their breaths steadied . He felt relaxed and warm, but not in the least sleepy, as he did after a good exercise session with his sword—well it was sort of the same wasn't it? He mentioned this thought to her and was rewarded with a giggle in his ear-she wasn't sleepy either, it seemed. Kenshin thought to ask a question he had been wondering about since she had told him she was married.

"Miss Jina, what is your husband like?"

Three cheers and a magic, invisible Cheesecake to anyone who can identify the movie which contains this quote ! (Magic cheesecake-make it any flavor you like-no fat –no calories-no guilt!)


	7. Chapter Seven

The Wanderer's Pillow Chapter Seven: A Red Tiger

I do own Kenshin (in a DVD box) but I didn't think up his magenta socks. I do not own his pretty hair-I do not own him anywhere!

… "Miss Jina, what is your husband like?"

Georgina took a sudden gulp of air and began to cough. She sat up and Kenshin sat up with her to rub her back. Her husband! The very word had him ready to jump out the window not too long ago-why ask about him now? She understood-last night had been passed off as an act of mercy, a one-time thing-how to explain what had just happened? For her to make love to a stranger so easily, seemingly without remorse; he must think that she didn't care about Fredrick-that perhaps she even hated the man. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw the brilliant red hair hanging about the young man's concerned face and thought of telling him—not yet, perhaps never. Getting up, she brought him more water and they ate another of the shriveled fruits while Georgina tried to frame her thoughts. Kenshin put the basin outside the door to fill up again in the down- pour, pulled his gi back on and sat down beside her as before, wrapped in the quilt on her right side this time. She had already put her shift back on and pleated the cloth between her fingers as picked out the words to best use. The man leaned back against the wall and waited for her in silence.

"My Fred is a strong man, strong enough to not fear being gentle. He puts up with my temper-he's got one of his own, in fact-and smoothes it over when I shock people. I almost missed this trip when some mop-headed old witch asked me at a luncheon if I was happy to be bringing the Gospel to a land of heathen savages! I told her that the "savages" had a civilization long before some little boy was born in a stable, that they seemed perfectly happy with it, and if they felt the need for Christianity they were welcome to come get it, for all the good I'd seen it do in the world. "

Kenshin didn't understand all of what she was saying-but he had heard of the followers of the strange"Christ" religion-there had been a great hunt and slaughter for the believers because the were held to be traitors to Japan since they denied the divinity of the Emperor. He had no opinion-many who swore the Emperor was divine had no trouble murdering others of the same belief. Fools were fools, no matter where, it seemed. "What happened, Miss Jina?"

She laughed, "The old rag-bag screamed like I dropped a mouse down her front and pretended to faint from horror! She was the sister of a pretty important figure of our government and it looked like I was on my way out-but Fredrick pulled out all the stops--what I had really meant was that I knew those poor people were entrenched in their ignorance, but I felt that public proselytizing wasn't proper for a lady. By living as a model Christian wife, I might become an example for any heathen men who wished to have such a wife and life as his and mine was. They bought it hook and all, the old biddy was practically sobbing over my virtuous sacrifice before we left the house! Fred kicked me under the table, right in the shin, to keep me from laughing in her face. Oh was he pissed at me! He started to chew me out in the cab on the way home, but I couldn't stop giggling, and he finally had to laugh with me.' The truth may set you free, Georgie,'he told me,' but remember that most people wouldn't know the truth if bit them in the backside!' Oh that man could sell water to a fish!" She laughed heartily at the memory. "He is the greatest man I know and the most wonderful."

Her praise of her husband confused Kenshin still further." Why then, if you love and honor him so, why this?" He gestured to them both, wrapped so closely in the quilt together." How can Miss Jina allow this to happen-how can she _welcome_ its' happening?" For the first time, she caught a sharper look in his normally soft violet eyes, a colder, more suspicious blue had appeared.

"You know that we had a great civil war amongst ourselves not too long ago, don't you?" The boy shrugged." That's one great reason that Fredrick wanted to come here, to try and help your country heal as ours is slowly healing. He was gone for three and a half years. When he returned he told me about a very bad time he had during the war-and about a woman who had been kind to a lonely and sad soldier far from home. How could I be angry? She had helped to save his mind; she saved him so he could return back home to me. I could only be grateful to her."

This made no sense at all," So you have had sex with me to make it even with your husband. Now you have both been unfaithful balance has been restored?" Kenshin's voice had become lower and rougher still.

"We weren't married then, just affianced. When Fredrick came back home, he was so cold and angry, he was in so much pain. Not just from wounds, but from what he had seen and what he had to do as a soldier in the field. He wouldn't meet my eyes and tried not even to touch my hand. I had to push very hard to get the story about the kind woman-he felt that he was "soiled"-that he wasn't worthy of me anymore."

Kenshin became angrier still-he felt only sympathy for an honorable man who had wished to keep himself faithful to his promise even through so evil a thing as war. This woman-she spoke so easily and casually about his pain, as if it did not matter to her at all! He could feel the scar on his cheek start to burn." How did you convince him that he was "worthy" of so great a treasure as yourself, then?" he rasped.

Lost in memory, Georgina merely chuckled," I did just about the same thing as I did with you –let him know that I was perfectly capable of "soiling" myself, and proved it then and there! That snapped him back, boy! It was like a throwing a rope to a drowning man, and it brought him safe back to me. Fred didn't complain at all. He said that my loving could turn a rabid wolf into man's best friend, that he did!" She laughed out loud then. Then man beside her was very still. Then an unfamiliar, cold and hateful voice asked,

"A woman who would change her man into a pet dog-how would she fare against a red tiger?"

A note to explain. When She is interacting with Kenshin,Georgina is "Jina",his version of her name. When thinking or referring to herself and her past she retains her original name.


	8. Cahpter 8

The Wanderer's Pillow Chapter Eight: Facing the Red Tiger

Every once in a while, you write a sentence never before seen. Like this one: I would like to thank _Screams of the Dead_ for the kind review. And for letting me write this sentence.

Kenshin is not owned by me. Fredrick is( He looks like Robert Redford did at 35.) –and he is mine alone! BWAAH HAA HA!

Georgina froze. That voice practically screamed danger-was that Kenshin? Looking out the corner of her eye she saw that the crossed scar on the man's cheek blazed red against his pale skin. His lips were pressed together in a thin line, and his eyes! They were the yellow, fierce eyes of the tiger to which he had compared himself. The tiny man suddenly radiated anger and the possibility of sudden death. He was angry on Fredrick's behalf, she realized-angry that she had sounded that she took him so lightly; that she had power over a helpless man who she then treated as "her dog". _Shit!_ She had been talking so easily with him that she had forgotten how different their cultures were. A woman here or in China caught in adultery was a dead woman, and if her husband didn't kill her himself, he would thank the man who did! She took a deep breath and fought her fear.

"I was only using a figure of speech that you don't understand. I would never wish to treat my husband badly or cause him pain."

"And you show this concern by giving your body to strange men you just happen to meet on the road? What a proud man he must be! How much honor you show him!" Hands like steel vises gripped her shoulders and turned her to face those terrible eyes. "So loving a wife! To be any man's whore!"The eyes bored into her, and her life seemed very much on the thin edge at that moment. One hand started to pull back as if to strike out.

Think, Georgina, think!! She could not move her eyes from his-but there was more than just anger there, she could see now. It looked like pain-and fear? Was he afraid of a woman who would betray love? No a woman, someone he had loved very much had somehow betrayed his love for her, that's why he had such sympathy for Fredrick's supposed dishonor! A calm settled into her and she could feel herself relax inside, she knew what to do, though she kept herself very straight and still on the outside.

" I'm not afraid of you, Kenshin; you can not make me believe you would truly hurt me."

The eyes became harder, if possible, and he shook her till her teeth clicked together. "Do you not think I can harm a worthless being such as you? Do you know what and who I am? Look around you,bitch! I knew this hut was here because three years ago I hid here to wait for a party of the Shogun's supporters to pass by! I slew them all with these hands! I have slain many with these hands!" He was nearly out of control. The despair and disgust he had felt yesterday had not changed, had been only covered over by a thin layer of peace because of sexual contentment. He hated her. He hated life. He hated everything. Why did there have to be this pain?

She sat there meeting his eyes-no fear apparent on her face, just watching him talk. It spilled out of him-the deaths, the murders, even the woman who had been his enemy, then his love-a woman he had slain with his own hands by mistake. He was shaking with anger and with self-loathing, and there she sat with those strange cool eyes-eyes as calm as an autumn pond. She wasn't afraid-he knew how to make her afraid! He shoved her roughly down upon the dirty grass and threw himself upon her.

It was frantic, savage sex. He wanted to see fear in her eyes, fear of him, fear of what a man could do to a helpless woman's body, but it didn't happen. She met him, twist for twist, strengnth for strength and she never lost her gaze on his face. As he plunged into her and began to pound down, she caught her breath and reached up to cup his scarred cheek. "I'm so sorry, Kenshin,"she said," I'm so sorry that life has hurt you so."

His anger snapped as steel wire breaks. He had shown her his worst, had told her all of the ugliness, let her peek at the Manslayer within. He knew he could not take any of it back, not the rage or the pain. She simply took it all in, accepted it all, forgave him and even sorrowed for him! He could not stop his body now, the heat was too great, but even as he poured himself into her his hot tears fell onto her breast and face. She had looked at him and seen not the orphan child, the apprentice, the Manslayer whose hands would never be clean. She had just seen another human being, a man in rage, in pain, but still just a man. All his life, others had defined him according to their own wishes and needs. Only now, for the first time, someone had accepted Kenshin Himura, strong in body but frail in soul, and treated him with tenderness. She asked nothing of him and gave all without hesitation. This was the gift she had given her husband, another survivor of a terrible war, the gift of her courage. She battled against the demons of the soul in her own way, and dispersed them with kindness, not a sword.

Kenshin collapsed down onto her, still joined together, and wept tears of joy. Joy that he was just a man, truly- only a man could be given the gift of a woman's body and a woman's heart to help him heal. He sobbed for quietly for a few more moments before he dared to turn his eyes towards her face. Her eyes were full of tears as well, but the lopsided smile was even sweeter than before and her eyes were calm and kind.

"What could I do with a red tiger, dear Kenshin? Why turn him back into a man, of course." Kenshin lay his head back down upon her breath and let the steady beat of her heart calm his soul. Soon he was fast asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 : A Gambler's Nerve Part one

I do not own Kenshin-tho' he holds my heart in his tiny hands. The rest of my body is available for parties and other get-togethers, --are you reading this Saitou-san? ("...My heart entreats…/oh hear its' savage beats.../and go put on your cleats, to come and trample me..." )…

Georgina tried to ease her back to a bit more comfortable position. The man had just fallen asleep, move too much now and he'd wake up. Tears slid down into her hair as she lay on the dry grass, listening to the man's breaths slow and become deeper. When they were fairly regular, she slowly slid him off to her right, back onto the discarded futon cover beside them. She pulled the cover over him and moved away silently. Stepping down to the dirt floor, she pulled off her shift and walked nude out into the pouring rain. The coolness felt so good flowing over her skin. She looked at the marks on her arms, shoulders, hips and thighs; marks she knew would soon begin to darken. The bandits had done her an unintentional favor-no one would question how she had been bruised so. Stretching up towards the rain, she moved away from the hut into a little stand of bamboo. Once necessary things were attended to, Georgina peeped back towards the hut. No sound of stirring. No sound anywhere, except the pik-pik of rain on leaves. She was on an island of sorts, the little hut the only home in the world, and she the only woman. Taking a deep breath, she began to move in the slow dance of tai chi that her"Uncles" had begun to teach a lonely little girl so long ago. They had found it charming when she had wanted to "dance like the Honored Uncles", but had slowly begun to take her seriously enough for true training to begin. The chants that accompanied the moves ran through her mind. She had stopped doing them out loud when she moved into the big house in San Francisco, for she knew her new Step-Mother would be terribly shocked at such "pagan" sounds. But she never gave up the dance-not until she and Fredrick were man and wife. Suddenly, she was shy about it-he had accepted a lot, but martial arts? -and had stopped for weeks. She found herself becoming more and more snappish and irritable, nit picking and petty; she couldn't sleep well, and worst of all, she started to show her irritation to Fred.

Staring into the grey light before dawn one morning, she just couldn't stand it anymore. Slipping away from her husband's side she moved downstairs in the dark, silent house and began to practice as she had for the past twenty-something years the graceful flowing moves, the chants sliding through her mind. Starting slow, she sped up into a blur, then slowed back down into stillness again as the exercises ended. She hadn't felt so calm in weeks. A gentle cough brought her spinning to face her new husband in the growing light.

"What are you doing?" he asked in his quiet baritone voice. He didn't seem upset just puzzled. She explained as best she could about the morning exercises she had learned so long ago, exercises that had kept her from growing as weak and soft as so many of the girls in this big city had. "I won't complain about anything that keeps my wife's body so firm and strong." he said, "What else did you do during these exercises?"

"We made our prayers."

Fredrick reached into his robe pocket and lifted out the Rosary that he told over every morning before breakfast."So, it is a sort of meditation in movement, it is? I knew something was making you unhappy. I will stand in your way of prayer no more than you would dream of taking these beads from my hands. I just want you to be happy, Georgie." She had shown him her appreciation in a way that made him approve even more of her exercises' effects. After that, each morning would find her in the silent dance. Sometimes, Fredrick would sit in the same room as she, telling his beads as well, "morning prayer circle", he called it. She had just never had the heart to tell him that her prayers were not to the Christian god but to the Tao, the way of nature and life that had always appealed so much more to her soul.

She came to the end of her exercises, and turned to walk to the twisted persimmon tree to check for any more treasures. She found one more, the biggest of all, hidden behind some fading leaves and carried it back with her, stopping to pick up the now full water basin as well. Bowing inside the tiny door, she stopped to listen. Nothing but soft, regular breathing, the occasional mutter, and the pound of rain on the roof. Wringing out her long hair, she combed with her fingers as well as she could and pushed the water off her body with her hands. Back on with the shift. A strip of lace hanging torn became a tie for her hair. Sitting across the room from the sleeper, she pulled what was left of the ragged straw cape about her shoulders for a little more warmth and unwrapped, examined and re-wrapped her sore feet. While doing this, she began to hum an old song, one of her few clear memories of her mother...

"In Dublin's fair city

where girls are so pretty,

I first set me eyes on Miss Molly Malone.

As she rolled her wheelbarrow

through streets broad and narrow,

crying, "Cockles and Mussels! Alive, alive, Oh!..."

At the first sound of her voice the boy stopped his whimpered mutters and drew in a deep breath. He breathing became even more deep and regular, and she knew his dreams must have stopped and his sleep was one of healing now. She kept humming as she finished and slid her feet up under the torn edge of her shift and leaned back up the wall to think about this situation.

To be continued….

Guess the quote for more free magic cheesecake! Now available in Three sizes!


	10. Cahpter 9 continued

Chapter 9 continued: A Gambler's Nerve -part two

Please see previous installment for disclaimer. If disclaimer is not available, please hold until someone disclaims both you and any characters from Rurouni Kenshin.

_As always, this is for Mouse._

…She realized that she had been in just as much danger an hour ago as she was in the bandit's clutches last night. Perhaps more, for beside muffling her up in a futon and giving her a breath-cutting squeezing they actually had never gotten their hands directly on her body like Kenshin had. Her stiletto was within reach the whole time, but she would have had to kill him outright to stop him, wounding him would have only escalated the attack.

If it was an attack. She could not deny to her self the sort of mad joy she had found in the rough embraces, the sort of knife-edge thrill only felt daring a fantastic risk could bring. Riding wild horses, clutching to a life-line on a pitching deck during the stormy voyage to Canton, throwing caution and good name to the winds to reach out to Fredrick on that fall picnic day in the hills above the Golden Gate; this was of a piece with this incident in the crumbling hut with the "red tiger".

Not a tiger; a heartsick boy/man with blood on his hands and more scars on his soul than on his body. She could not have brought herself to kill this child who had suffered so. When Fredrick had left her to travel to Pennsylvania and take up arms for his convictions, he had been a grown man making a grown mans' choice; not a deadly choice imposed on a boy who should have still been flying kites and trying to get out of schooling instead of holding the woman he had loved dying in his arms. Only the truly innocent could be fooled into making such a devil's bargain. Even the wise suffered. Frederick had nearly been broken by the carnage, illness and violence he had endured. A kind woman's touch and smile had pulled him back from the abyss enough to survive, and Georgina's love had finished the healing, returning the hope he had lost. She had never asked the woman's name, though Fred would have told her, but she prayed for her peace and happiness every day, as she prayed for the brave men who had also helped to bring her love home.

No, she could not have slain Kenshin, she knew that redemption was possible, if painful, and she could not steal his chance for peace. Georgina had accepted his anger and fear of the further pain life had in store for him and returned only peace and gentleness. She bowed her head in prayer for the spirit of Honorable Uncle Chou, who had shown her the truth of fear when she was eight years old...

They had been in the scrubby hills above the Camp, picking berries for the next days pies, when she had nearly stepped onto the dirt brown snake. She had frozen in terror at the sound of the rattle, a bite would be her certain death. "Do not move or scream, Georgie,"came a soft voice from behind her, "control your fear. It is fear that causes the snake to rattle and if that fear turns to anger, he will strike. If he feels your fear, he will become more and more dangerous. He is only a little animal; his fear is normal when he is threatened. Show him you mean no harm, show him you have no fear, and he will leave you in peace." The words were in Cantonese, soft and liquid, almost hypnotizing. Her fear began to slip away. The poor animal, just sleeping in the sun, to be so frightened! She breathed soft and slow, trying to send out a feeling of peace to the reptile. Would it realize she meant no harm, or would it strike? Time froze for the three of them as the waiting continued. Then the snake dropped its head and slipped gracefully away into the shade.

Uncle Chou caught her before she fell, and held her shaking in his arms. He praised her bravery over and over until she calmed in his embrace. "You are stronger as a little child, Georgie, than many are as grown men. You conquered fear and escaped suffering because of it. This is a great secret of life that many never learn-most anger and hate starts as fear. If you increase the fear with your own, it can grow into a very destructive force. By controlling your own fear, you reduce the fear of others and sap them of both the wish and the strength to attack you. Never forget this."

"But couldn't you have just killed the snake, Uncle? Then he would not have had a chance to hurt me."

"Why should the snake pay for your mistake in not watching your step? It spared your life, should that result in losing its' own? Think well and you will see I am telling you a great truth of the Tao." Georgina had remembered how even when so many Chinese men suffered at the hands of others in the chaos of the camps, Uncle Chou walked through the crowds without being bothered. When customers in the eating hall came in drunk and nasty, it was Uncle Chou who asked them to please return when they felt better and they would be happy to serve them then, but not now. "Anger is bad for stomach," he would say in his stilted English, bowing low, but not cringing;"very bad for you to eat here now. Go away til anger gone then come back for good time, yes?" Some of the most feared men in the camps had turned and left without saying another word. This secret was a great source of power, indeed! This teaching had never left her thoughts since that day.

Later, she had learned a more profitable facet of this truth. Uncle Chou had no luck as a miner, but he was the best gambler in the camps. By the time she was twelve, he had made enough money to return to Canton and take care of all his family. He explained it so:" Study the people who will be playing with you. Watch out for the desperate or the shifty, they are too dangerous to risk anything with. When you play, watch for your chance and keep total control over your emotions, both good and bad. Show nothing, but do not glower like "poker-face "- this is a trick for babies. Gamblers' need nerve like a strong steel blade- strong, sharp, but never breaking, even when pressed hard. The fearful and weak will fall before the gambler with such a nerve and he will succeed in winning time and time again, even when the cards or dice do not fall to his best advantage. Thus you will often win and when you lose it will be to an opponent worthy to best you."

Shortly after he had left for his homeland, his satin jacket soaked with both their tears. She had never seen him again, but she had _koutou_ed in prayer at his families' shrine in Canton, nearly shocking the poor old priest to death that a such a strange and foreign woman would speak like a true daughter of Canton, and would perform the proper rituals before the shrine of a family not her own. Fredrick had knelt behind her to honor the man who had meant so much for his wife.

She must have stopped humming. Kenshin stirred restlessly across the room, but stilled again when she resumed the sound. His red hair hid his face completely. Red hair. She had been surprised last night when he told her the color-a red headed native of Japan? – But when the light had first come this morning she could see it was true Titian red, so red that strands appeared blue. _Red _hair! It ran over and over again in time with the raindrops as she lay there with him curled beside her. Fate had brought her to him from the springs of Chibimizu, springs she had been recommended to by a Japanese doctor as a place where many women who had no children had found help. She and Fredrick had been married for four years now and only one thing lacked for their happiness. Always healthy, Georgina suspected that the problem was in Fredrick. He was a good and enthusiastic husband, but he had been sick with a high fever during the War and she believed that unseen damage had been done. She so wanted to give him that final joy, a tiny living flame of hope to nurture into the future.--- _Red hair._

She had slipped away from the warm body this morning to go in search of food and water, among other reasons. When she returned, there was the crouching trembling form of the man who had saved her life with such skill and courage, begging abjectly, incoherently for forgiveness. Her feelings to that point had only been gratitude, mixed with not a little embarrassment, but he was so exasperating! When she pulled him up to face her in the dim light she was shocked how red the hair shone over pale shoulders, and that she was being watched with a pair of violet eyes with only the tiniest trace of a fold at the inside corner. If he had never spoken, she would never have known he was a native here.

_"RED HAIR!"_ screamed a voice in her head. Life had dealt her a red jack; she would make the play for the ace to win the greatest pot of all! She would take his fear and give him only joy; in return, perhaps he would give her a gift greater still, a gift for the love of her heart.

Between one man's pain and another's future joy, Georgina Boldt depended on only one thing.

Her gambler's nerve.

Long chapter, but it just didn't break well any place. Please excuse my rambling!


	11. Chapter 10

Author's note: While I do not own, or claim to own, any characters from Rurouni Kenshin; they do occasionally stop by on the doorstep of my mind… Actually, Master Hiko just popped by, carrying a keg of sake and a large bag that made an ominous clanking sound. Wanted to borrow my copy of The Numskullz Guide to Escape-Proofing and a couple gerbils. He got the book, but not the gerbils, and I explained the concepts of "animal cruelty", "Urban legends," and "Getting my ass kicked off permanently for twisted shit like that." He left in a swirl of cape and sake fumes. I've turned off the porchlight on the front doorstep and will try to pretend I'm not home - maybe he won't come back…

Chapter 10: Apologies, Anyone?

Georgina woke up with a start. She must have dozed off sitting there against the wall but not for too long judging by the light. The man across the room was awake now, regarding her silently, red hair still hiding most of his face. She picked up the water and brought it over for him, holding it out silently, unwilling to speak first. He wouldn't take it and she realized he was staring at her bruised wrist. Pulling her sleeve down, she offered the water once again, this time it was accepted with a nod. She returned to her previous spot and sat back down, looking away through the window at the dim grove. "Let him be, for now." she thought, "He'll talk when he's ready." She heard him get up, pick up the gi and walk outside.

Kenshin Himura hated dreams. Dreams were only pain, regret and bitter sorrow, old tragedies playing over and over in an endless loop. He was surprised then, to find himself in a garden he had once glimpsed in Osaka, a place of peace he knew that could only be a dream. He was lying on his back by the pond, while autumn leaves spun down around him, copper brown, black, green and gold. Water ran down a little rill, but the sound was not that of water, instead it was a low hum of melody unfamiliar but comforting. Someone was watching over him here, the humming was a chant to keep the souls who so plagued him far away, powerless to harm him now as long as the sound continued. How wished he could stay here, lying back in the grass with no past, no future, just the soft hum and the spin of the leaves about his face. When the sound stopped, the sky began to fade and he opened his eyes onto another world entirely.

She was against the far wall, head bent upon folded knees, asleep. The ratty grass cloak she had found was on her again, the only protection she had against the chill. Kenshin didn't want to wake her; he lay there as long as he could without moving, watching her sleep. She was still here; she hadn't run from him… Then he just had to cough, dammit! Her head snapped up at once, he couldn't see her eyes but he felt them on him. The woman rose and brought him the water basin; when he sat up to take it he could clearly see the skin on her wrist. He was sickened by the imprint of fingers and thumb he saw there,- how she could think anything of him now but as a vicious animal! She hadn't fought him, she had spoken words of forgiveness, and she had held him as he wept. But how could she feel now, watching her skin darken so terribly? Her wrists and shoulders might be the most bruised area on her body but other bruises in tenderer places- they would be giving her more pain now. His throat was filed with bile. A sleeve was pulled down to hide the sight, and then the water was offered again. He drank while she moved back across the room to sit, knees pulled up before her, hands laced across them. No words were said. Kenshin got up, grabbed the crumpled gi and fled out into the rain.

It was much earlier than he had thought, probably just past midday. Rain pounded steadily and thunder made an occasional distant rumble. Kenshin stood naked in the storm, allowing the drops to pound against his face and skin, scraping at him without pity or tenderness. Pity, tenderness. That's what Jina had given him. A gift he didn't deserve - wasn't worthy to receive. Briefly, he thought about just staying out there, huddled in the rain, leaving her in peace, safe from him and his insanity. But he couldn't let her down like that. Jina had shown him her courage; the very least he could do was to go back in and face her, to apologize for the madness that had swept him up and had been expended on her body.

When he entered the hut, shivering in the wet cloth, it was his turn to find a kneeling form on the platform before him. The woman spread her hands onto the floor and gently tapped her forehead onto the boards in a _koutou_. "Lord, please forgive this worthless woman, this humble slave for offending you with her foul talk and loose manners. This slave deserves nothing but misery and death for destroying your harmony, but please show her mercy, please show her mercy."

Kenshin sucked in a sudden lungful of air and fell on his knees beside her, sick at heart. "Jina, I—"

She was grinning up at him now, gold and green glinting in the dimness, "Well, now we're even, Red, one stupid abject apology each! Let's give up the game right now okay? It's kinda boring and it's hard on the back to bow this much too often." Kenshin fell flat on his face in a dead faint. "Oro!"

Well that's it for today kids…I just had another visitor stop by my mind's eye and I'm still a little shook up. That creep/sex god Hajime Saitou popped in - must have picked the back door lock- and wanted to borrow the same book as Master Hiko (Please refer to above author's note for required flashback.) Pissed off that I didn't have it and wouldn't tell him who I loaned it to… Appeared relieved to see gerbils snoozing in cage, but made no comment. Author offered to become his love monkey in exchange for the information on the borrower, received sneering reply that he wasn't interested in anyone who's mind smelled this much of sake fumes. Disappeared in puff of smoke and flame, leaving disgruntled author to wonder if offering to loan Hiko an ant farm and honey could be thought of as animal cruelty. Should I even try to find out what's going on, gentle readers? Let me know!


	12. Chapter 11

Thanks to _Marlingrl _for the kind review and constructive critique. I am finding the limitations of spell check as I continue to write. As for beta readers –I have only the gerbils and the Mouse right now. The gerbils eat the rough drafts and the Mouse gets too excited , meaning I can't get any work done. On my writing. Other things are going **very well.**

Mouse also wants to know why I possess a copy of **_The Numskullz Guide to_****_Escape-Proofing_** to loan to Hiko in the first place. Um… to keep the gerbils from getting away? Really, Mouse, why else?

Kenshin, how do I declaim thee? I declaim thee to the width and breadth and line count that I can reach before my fingers grow too sore to type…

Chapter 11: _Snack Time!_

"Red, my boy, for such a tough guy you can sure be a shrinking violet at times, can't you? Keep slamming into the floor like that and you'll end up with splinters in places that you won't like, believe me." Georgina helped the limp figure sit up. "I thought I spoke Japanese pretty well, but what the hell is "Oro!"? Some kind of slang? "

"It's just the way this one talks, that it is."

"I think I already told "this one" to cut that out when talking to me. It puts a bad taste in my mouth to have people overdoing the humility routine. Speaking of taste in my mouth, we still have a couple of fruits-want some?"

"Yes, this one-I mean that I would like a piece of fruit, but let me get something out of my bag to put on besides this wet gi, alright?" Jina nodded and went back over to the grass bed, shaking out the futon and kicking at the grass a little to fluff it up. Kenshin hung the gi back up next to the still sodden pants and squatted to root around in his little bag. There was the tattered yukata-the only other clothing that he possessed at this time. He wished he still had the loincloths, but they had been more needed as bandages about two months ago than as underwear. That's where the bottom twelve inches of the yukata had gone as well, leaving the hem halfway between his hips and knee. He had better get more clothes or at least try not to get cut up so bad again soon, or he'd be wearing the bag as a pair of pants. What was that in the oiled paper bundle? Oh yes, that old lady had given him some of her strips of dried--something in that last little village; she had insisted on making him this gift in honor of his help. Kenshin tried not to think about what a starving village might be eating, but he knew that this was the best the woman had had; she certainly wouldn't have given him anything that would be poison or evil to eat. He pulled on the yukata and held it closed with one hand—the belt had become a tourniquet last year—and trotted across to Jina with the little packet.

"Here, I found this in my bag, a little something to add to the fruit, neh?"

Jina turned and chewed her lip for a moment- ("God, he looks so funny and cute-like a little boy wearing his daddy's old shirt for dress up!" Georgina thought.), then smiled and thanked him very politely. They sat back down as they had before, Jina near the top of the grass pile, Kenshin on her right, and opened the paper.

"Well, Red, beggars can't be choosers, can we?" She picked up one of the strips and pulled at it with her fingers. "This is tougher that a sailor's tobacco twist. We'll need a knife."

"I'll get mine out of the bag."

"No need, got one here." Jina leaned to her left, where her head had lain when he had---and reached into the grass. The blade appeared like magic in her hand. Kenshin stared—he had forgotten that she had a knife! She had hidden and produced it without his ever noticing—it had been right there at her hand, free to be pulled when he…The glimpse of the bandit last night cursing and clutching his severely wounded arm swam before his eyes. She had struck and done such damage with that little blade, had struck strong and true through both futon and darkness to cause that injury. She would have had no problem with him—a swift cut across a distracted man's throat and it would have been his blood on her breasts, not his tears. Jina casually tossed the blade from left to right hand and snicked the strip into bite size pieces. She held out two on her open palm. "Here goes nothing, I guess."

Kenshin could only blink stupidly at the knife. "You used that last night." he managed to say.

"Yeah, but I cleaned it real good-don't worry. I wonder if that bastard I nailed last night bled out or not? He'd need help with that wound...I thought if I marked one of them good it might be a tip for the authorities, but if you hadn't shown up my ass would have been dead for making that mistake…Come on, eat."She popped a piece into her mouth. "Tastes like somebody dried this out over green wood—bitter, but maybe the exercise we get chewing will warm us up...Red?"

Kenshin shook himself like a dog and took the meat she offered. Maybe she had forgotten the knife herself? Again, he saw her at bay among herkidnappers...cutting the futon to hide her white gown… she had kept up with him and had never moaned or complained as the stones below them cut into her bare feet…No, she had known exactly where it was all the time and had _chosen _to let him live. He swallowed hard. Jina had trusted him enough to take the chance he would not truly cause her great harm .She had let him live and had stood guard over his dreams as well, he now realized. Slowly Kenshin put a bit of the meat into his mouth and made a face at the bitter saltiness. "Beggars can't be choosers." she had said; but she had taken what he gave her by choice—she was a strong as he.

No, she was stronger. A stranger all alone in a foreign land, a woman with only courage and wit as her assets; Jina had faced the most feared killer in Japan. And defeated him without really noticing she had done so.

The strongest woman in Japan looked at him, smiled and said, "Persimmon, Red?"

I am really trying to avoid the "Mary Sue" curse with Georgina, even though her back story may make her sound a little too good to be true…But face, it, any Western woman who would have been in Japan at this time would have had to be somebody pretty special, with special talents and abilities. Successful explorers are human beings; still, they are humans who have pushed their brains, bodies and skills to their limits to be that way. Explorers who don't aren't in the history books because they died if they didn't make the grade. Thus endeth the lesson. Go in Peace, dear readers.


	13. Chapter 13

_Psst!_ Buddy! Come here! Would you like to see a Rurouni Kenshin disclaimer? _You just did! _

In this section and those to follow _English _words shall appear in _Italics_.

Ways to Spend a Rainy Afternoon- 

#1: Play a game…

(_munch,munch,gag_.) _(Rain continues to tap on roof)_

"You know Kenshin; rain is a necessary, vital thing. Without it, there would be no life on earth; it's a gift to all. But after twelve straight hours, rain just sucks donkey dick."

"Oro!" _(thud!)_

"Sit up, Red; you're going to break your nose falling like that. Say – let's play a game. How about, "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral"?"

"How is it played?"

Georgina held up a dry bit of meat. "You try to guess what something is by asking questions about it. Take this. Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral? Animal, right? Is it fur, fish, or fowl? ... … … Let's skip that one for now. Did it die by violence or by natural causes, and how long was it dead before …"

"Miss Jina."

"Yes?"

"This game is not good for my stomach, that it is not."

"Sorry."

#2 : Special Grooming…

(_Rain sound on roof continues_)

"Let's wrap the rest of this up for later, Red, my jaw's getting sore anyway."

"Why do you call me "Red" so much, Miss Jina? Do you not like my name?"

"Not at all. It's a beautiful, strong name. Ken –Shin. "Sword Heart", right? I guess us Americans' have a habit of giving nicknames without even thinking much about it. It just seems less formal, more friendly. I'll stop if you don't care for it."

"No, it's alright; I just wanted to know why. I'm glad after what has happened you can still think of me as a friend to nickname. Anyway, I'm using a nickname for you, right? What does "Jeoljina" mean?"

"Farmer Girl. Stop laughing, that's what it means! Anyway, how could I not call you Red when you have such pretty hair? It would be prettier if it weren't so messy. Do you have a comb? I'll fix it for you. …Thanks, now sit here and hold still, this is really tangled."

"ORO! That hurts, that does!"

"It's your own fault for letting it dry like this…oops, is that something moving I see in there?" (_snerk_.)

" That. Is. Not. Funny."

"Sorry. (_snerk_)… There done, let me twist it up out of the way for you. (_snerk,_ _snerk.)_

"That feels odd. What did you do to my hair?"

_(snerk,snerk,snerk!)_

Kenshin reached up to find his hair had been parted, twisted and rolled into knots on the sides of his head, ends swinging free like tassels." Jina!"

"Now you have flopping puppy ears to go along with those big eyes!" Georgina laughed until she had to make a dash for the bamboo grove to preserve her dignity. When she returned, Kenshin's hair was once more a shining cape over his shoulders. He was looking away from her quite pointedly. "I'm sorry, Red, I couldn't help it – the devils made me do it."

"You have a very naughty sense of humor, Miss Jina. You like to tease this poor man too much you do."

"I said I'm sorry. What can I do to make it up to you? Ask away."

"Let me do your hair."

"Dream on, shorty."

# 3 : Learn something new…

_(You guessed it, it's raining.)_

"How many languages to you speak, Jina? "

"Let's see. English, of course, three dialects of Chinese fluently, Spanish and Japanese. I can read and write in them too, at least enough to read what's going on and to get by. Bits and pieces of Portugee, two more dialects of Chinese, French and Digger Injun. Most of it can't be repeated in good company. Oh, and a little German Frederick taught me, I shouldn't repeat that either, most of it. I grew up surrounded by people from all over the world, so I heard a lot. I've always liked to learn and just have the knack, I guess. Do you speak anything besides Japanese, Red?"

"Some of the Chinese that is spoken around the Nanking area. I can read, but my writing is pretty bad. I've spent much more time with a sword in my hand than a brush. Can you teach me some English? What does "Red" sound like?"

"_Red."_

"'_Led'._ How's that?"

"Let's try something without a hard "R" sound in it. Try this…_Sir; you are a damn_ _cocksucker son of a bitch_. Try that."

"_Sir you are a damncocksuckee sumbitch._ Better?"

_(snerk!)_

"What did you just have me say? (_Phrase is repeated in Japanese.)_ That's sick! Teach it right or don't teach at all!"

"_Okay_, -say that's a good one! Say '_Okay_'."

"What's it mean, first?"

"It means, 'alright', or 'that's true'. Sometimes it means, 'I will', it depends on the context."

"_Okeh, Okeh."_

"Good now this." They went through good, day, thank, you, may, I (Kenshin just couldn't manage the L sound in 'Please"), no, yes man, woman eat, drink, sleep, damn, cock, sucker, son, bitch ("Jina!" "Well, they are real proper words too, not just curses."). Until finally:

"_Good day, my name is Kenshin Himura. Nice to meet you_. Was that right?"

"One hundred percent Grade-A American. So good that anyone from England will automatically look down their nose at you. But, remember that first phrase? Keep it. Sometimes a good insult can have more bite than a blade."

"_Okeh."_


	14. Chapter 14

Again, I would like to thank _Marlingrl_ for the kind words to salve a new author's ego. Not too much salve though, it makes my fingers slip on the keyboard.

**Figuring it out:**

I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. I do not profit from this story. My gerbils do. It seems that shredded rough draft paper is an E ticket ride for gerbils. So for their tiny sakes, I continue. And for the Mouse.

As they got up to stretch their legs and warm up, pacing in circles on the platform; Kenshin told Georgina about his travels since leaving the Revolution the past year. He described the people, places and conditions he had discovered and dealt with. She asked him questions about the history that was not being told to foreign visitors and listened carefully to everything he said. She knew that this information was as valuable as gold and dangerous as a battleship. The new Mieji government would certainly not appreciate having its workings laid bare by this man. When she shared this information with Fredrick, she would have to hide her source carefully for his safety. Not that she ever intended the two men to meet, that would show her hand and lose her the game before she even knew if the play had started.

"From what you tell me, Red, I'm surprised that you're neither a high official, or dead now. These boys play to win and don't mind stacking the cards"

"I don't know what you mean exactly, Miss Jina, but I believe if I had stayed, I would have indeed become a ghost of the Revolution myself. But nobody looks for a wanderer. That is my only safety."

"Who's backing the play – I mean who is financing these factions? You need money to buy men and material."

"Money comes from corruption and crime. I think that is why you were attacked and taken, that I do. One of your captors' said something about ransom before I hit them."

"That makes the most sense, now that you have given me the background to lay the facts against. But how did they hit so fast? I had just gotten to the inn early yesterday afternoon and I had an escort of a small troop of fifty men. But my attackers knew just where I was and I was bundled up and gone before I could even give a scream"

"There are those called ninja who can specialize in such tactics."

"Well, maybe the Captain will be able to get some clues from the bodies of those three you laid out."

"If they found them before they woke up perhaps." Kenshin picked up his sakabatou from the edge of the grass bed and showed Georgina the reversed blade. "Those men are not dead. I have sworn never to kill again, and this sword is the symbol of my vow. It cannot kill."

Georgina stood in the rapidly dimming light, looking from the blade to the man "**_Dammit_**, Red! If I knew what a spectacular son of a bitch you were, I'd have never jumped you. Fred would love to meet you and now he never can!" She walked over to the grass and sat down hard. "Fredrick is the same as you. After the War, he said there was so much blood on his hands it would take a lifetime of service to wash it off. That's another reason he didn't want to marry, he wanted to dedicate his life to helping others. Since he'd come west in the first place hoping to go to Japan, he turned his eyes towards your war and wanted to help you make a government sort of like ours. I pointed out that my money would be a big help in making his dream come true, and that the dream of the man I loved would be my dream too. _**Goddamnitalltohell, Kenshin!**_ I've messed it up good this time!"

Kenshin came to sit beside her and patted her shoulder." It cannot be helped now, Jina, and what is between us is not all of your making, no it is not." He laid his hand upon her bruised wrist. "I'm so sorry that I cannot meet your husband either. You keep speaking of a great war like ours. What happened, why did you have this war?"

"For many reasons, but I think the best is so people could not be enslaved anymore just because they were different. We still have a long way to go, many voices are unheard in our government; but peoples' children are no longer sold like piglets on market day. That was the best thing that came from that terrible war. And that our government survived it without becoming a corrupt tyranny. That's what Fred wants to show, and I guess your bunch could use the example." She looked at Kenshin who sat silent by her side, head bowed. "What is it, Red?"

"I was a slave."

"What?"

"When my parents died, I was alone; I was nothing. So the village elders' sold me. If my master had not come across me, I would still be a slave. Or dead."

"_Son of a bitch."_

"That is why I became an assassin for the Chousu faction and fought who ever wanted to stand in the way of reform. So there would be no more like me. But the cost was almost more than I could bear. My pain has been growing worse and I have been in such terrible despair. But I shall live now, because I know that there are those like your husband and others who wish to make our world a better place. And for a very special woman who would not judge me as I have judged myself; as a worthless murderer. Thank you Jina."

Jina got back up quickly and walked to the window. Kenshin could not see the tall woman's face but her voice was husky. "Thank you, Kenshin. Perhaps you were meant to save my life in order to save your own and to give life to others." Unconsciously, she stroked her hand down her belly." But you'll have me crying in a minute, and we've got enough water, neh? We were trying to figure out how those kidnappers knew how to get at me last night. Was there a spy at the inn –"She turned back towards Kenshin, eyes wide,"or did I bring my kidnappers with me?"

"What?"

She sat back down by his side and flipped the quilt back up around them. Her narrowed eyes glittered in the dimness and Kenshin remembered that she could be a formidable opponent if she so chose and she wasn't afraid to attack an enemy.

"Listen, Kenshin, it makes the best sense. I had an escort of fifty men, not counting a captain, lieutenant and a sergeant. They can't all be in on it, or there would have been no fighting or fear of pursuit. Since both happened, someone had to be able to manipulate the guards and coverage. That means either Captain Mikawa, or Lieutenant Yokima. When we go back, I'll have to keep a close eye on those two."

"We will have to watch them close, yes we will Miss Jina. I will not let you go back into danger alone. We will defeat them together."


	15. Chapter 15

**Tenderness**

Saitou popped by on my mind's doorstop again, and wanted to count my gerbils. I explained that there was no real point; since just as you finish counting gerbils; there will more gerbils in the cage than you started with. This is the law of multiplication as practiced by gerbils. And some human families. (Right, Mouse?) He offered to take care of my problem by feeding all of my gerbils to his pet cobra. I told him to drag and to keep his sneaky hands off my babies. Feed them to a snake, huh? I'm going to start working on that story about him and Hiko now, you bet your ass. He'd better watch out. I'm doing research on manacles now.

Oh hey, I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin. But I will own Saitou's ass. Wait and see.

"Well this is the last persimmon, let me split it. There I cut and you chose that's fair. At least the stinking rain is slowing down. After we finish this water, I think we'll be able to get a mouthful for morning still. Want some more of that – whatever that dried stuff was?

"No, I'm not that hungry yet. I may never be that hungry again, that I may not."

"Are you sure the way you talk isn't a speech impediment or something? Don't look hurt I'm only joking, that I am; as you would say. Let me put the knife away in my money belt – there, all safe." She had shown Kenshin the wide canvas and leather belt meant to be worn under clothes to hide valuables. A thin leather sheath was sewn across the top for the flexible blade of her stiletto. Kenshin had asked her if all Western women wore such things.

"Not with the _corsets_, they don't. But I don't wear those stupid things either it's like cutting yourself in half. My dad gave me this when I turned eighteen. He knew that I would get into scrapes whether he liked it or not and wanted me have a little edge on the opposition, as it were."

"_Colsets?_ What is that?"

"Like foot binding in the Chinese, only we do it across the belly. It's crippling yourself for fashions sake, you can't do shit in one. I won't wear anything that keeps me from breathing like that does. Fred doesn't mind that I don't look like a pigeon: all breast meat: and he knows it's better for my health too."

"It sounds silly, that it does."

"Like high class women here who blacken their teeth? Ever culture has something that women do just to look good for men, no matter how silly or dangerous it might be. I guess its nature's way of making sure that babies get born."

"Do you have any children, Jina?"

"Not yet. I don't think I can. I am thirty-five and nothing yet after four years. It's just as well don't you think?"

"Yes, for us, but I am sad for you and your husband. "

"You can't have everything in life, not without giving something special up sometimes." Like you. "It's pretty dark now, I'm going to stretch out now and get some rest. Here cover up and get warm. Come on, closer. Have you got the sword with you in here, something's poking my…Red!"

"I'm sorry, that I am. I'll go over there and sleep. I'm used to the cold… Jina, what are you doing?'

"Something we both want to, it seems to me."

Kenshin felt lips on his cheek, lips that slid down to his mouth. She still tasted of persimmon and there was still that faint, sweet scent. A few months later in Yokihama, he would smell it again and run for blocks, hoping to glimpse her again. He would find himself outside a bakery that made some of the new Western style treats,"cookies", and find out about "vanilla extract". He would buy one and carry around in his sleeve for two days just to smell her before he could finally bear to eat the crumbled treat. She tasted better.

Georgina swept his mouth with her tongue. This time would be for them as friends, not from fear or anger or secret need. This time was for tenderness...

Vanilla extract is a pretty powerful scent and was often used as a perfume by 19th century women. Of course, at 25 proof – it was a good way to hide a shot of alcohol when women weren't supposed to be drinking. Don't try it- it's really nasty! But before Tylenol or Valium, a woman had to make do with what she had. "Good Old Days", my ass, they were good if you weren't in them.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Wanderer's Pillow**

I do not own Kenshin. I just want to write smutty stories about him for fun.My first attempt at writing action scenes is coming up, and I would appreciate any feedback from my reviewers. Welcome aboard _scythe195_, pull up a screen and read for a while. And now for your mental refreshment, some LEMON!

Georgina slid her hands up along the slender back of the man she held. They were both tired, but that would force them to go slow. And slow had its charms. A hand caressed her face, a gentle hand with calluses caused by years of swinging a sword. A child had become a manslayer, and now the manslayer had become a man. Her sweet little friend, her secret treasure. She wanted to be a part of his life, but that was impossible. She could not hurt Fred that way and once they were away from their remote hideout she knew that they would have little in common. This place was where their lives had touched and all that would be left was memories. She wanted the last to be of tenderness and pleasure between them.

Kenshin buried his face in the hollow of her neck and breathed her in. She would not be his again, he knew, and thinking of that had stirred him when she had taken him into her arms. She cared for him, not as she loved her husband, but she cared enough to risk pain and shame for his sake. The dawn would part them. He caught his breath on a sob; he had wept enough in her arms. She must know only his gratefulness. She must feel only joy.

They rocked together side by side. Hands, tongues, and lips discovered what was hidden by the darkness. Skin slid against skin, clothing gone now. He asked her to show him how to give her pleasure, and she taught him how to give pleasure to them both. Her breast was in his mouth, the salt sweet taste of her skin filling his senses. Her breath came short in his ear as her hands ranged up and down him. She had seemed so big to him at the beginning but he was finding that her greater reach and hands as large as his gave her access to more of his body than anyone else had ever had. He started to tremble but pulled back. It was too soon to end it now.

They whispered back and forth while they rested for a moment. Sweet words, little jokes, laughter joining them as much as their bodies had. Kenshin couldn't remember when he had ever laughed as much as this, and that this was another gift he owed her. She reached for him again, sliding her hands through his long hair, pulling him towards her for another kiss. She was trembling as well now.

"Come my beautiful wanderer. Let my breast be your pillow and my body your shelter from the road for tonight at least."

He raised himself over her and she lifted to meet him. She welcomed his heat and they rolled together in a slow rhythm that pleased them both. Sometimes she was on top, sometimes he, sometimes side by side, but never parting; locked together in warmth and pleasure. They had no concept of time. There was only the now of tongues and skin and breathing; no thoughts, only sensation.

Finally Georgina could take no more. She bowed her body backward to bring him even deeper inside her and began to shake and moan. He cried out with her and their voices floated out into the clearing night sky twined and joined as their bodies were.

When their breathing slowed, she reached to brush his hair back from eyes, now faintly visible from the wan starlight. "Thank you, my dearest friend. My beautiful wanderer."

"Come with me, Jina, be my pillow my lover my joy. Do not go back and leave me alone again. We can hide from them, we can hide from them all here, and we will be each other's joy and truest friends."

Georgina sucked in a startled breath. This was not a good thing, no matter how tempting the idea was, she must make him understand. "Kenshin, dear Red, I cannot. I have a love that is as necessary for my life as breathing. We have been each other's soul for more than ten years now. Through good and evil, through joy and pain, we never doubted our love, even when Fredrick tried to hide it from me I knew it still lived. You are a dear man, and you will always be my dearest friend. But he is my love and I will not leave him until I am no longer in this world… And then I will watch over him from the next until he joins me. Do you understand?"

Kenshin shook off the fantasy which had overtaken him for that moment. "Yes, Jina, I understand and I honor you for your truth. You have shown me that true honor is not in the body, but the soul, the soul you keep for just one man. I am envious, that's all."

"Don't be. Someday you will meet someone who will look you in those beautiful eyes and see you. The real Kenshin in all of his sides, both good and bad. And she won't care for anything but the man that she sees in those eyes. And you will find healing and joy in her embrace."

Kenshin slid off and they held each other in the starlit dimness. She began to hum, that little song that she had told him was about a girl who sold fish in a far off city named "Dublin" and who was loved and lost to death. At least he would have the solace that somewhere in the world an unseen Jina would be alive and laughing. And that would have to be enough.

…Damn! I'm getting choked up now! I hope Mouse hasn't let the gerbils chew up all of the tissues…


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16:** Daybreak**

I don't own Kenshin. But damn, I'm going to miss him when this is done. So is Mouse.

The grey of false dawn found them in the same position as the first time they had laid together, both on their sides, back to front. This time it was Kenshin who had his face buried in Georgina's hair, holding her close and tight in his sleep. She stirred and rolled onto her back and Kenshin opened his eyes on her sleeping face. She did not look at all like Tomoe, or any other Japanese woman. Her mouth was too wide, her nose too long, her brows and jaw too heavy and strong for the feminine Japanese ideal. She laughed without hiding her smile and spoke without hiding her soul. Her teeth were white, if irregular in size and her smile was crooked with a closed mouth, as if she wished to hide them. She was too big; too different. She snored: but lightly, more of a sigh than a snort. She was beautiful. He just wanted to lie here and watch her, to burn her face into his memory for the future so he would always see her clearly in his dreams. She stirred and looked up at the ceiling with a puzzled frown. Then she smiled and turned to meet his eyes.

"Morning, Red. Sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you, Jina, and you?"

"Better than since I've been in Japan, I think. I've been cooped up too much by the Embassy staff and our contacts in your government. The fresh air and exercise has done me a lot of good. All sorts of exercise, neh?" she giggled and Kenshin joined her. He began to warm, but she was sitting up and reaching for her discarded shift. "It's going to be a bright day, finally. Let's hit the road, and find out what those fools who kidnapped me have been up to. If they aren't stopped, I'm afraid they will go after somebody else, or me again, and I won't be lucky enough to have you pop out of the bushes this time."

She stood up and walked out of the hut. Kenshin slowly got his clothes together and slipped on the gi and the still damp pants. She was right, it was time to leave and start life again. He must make sure she was safe before he left; but he must be careful to be long gone before her husband appeared. He would not be able to accept thanks from a man whose wife he had such feelings about, and he believed that Jina, even with her pushing the boundaries of honor, would not want them to meet either.

He walked out to find her dancing. A slow, fluid dance -one motion sliding into another, while she hummed under her breath, barely audible. It wasn't a Western song, more of a chant of prayer as he might hear in a temple. Her movements sped up and he saw now that the dance was also a form of martial art, blocks, kicks and punches at speed that turned back into dancing as she slowed and stopped. Her breathing hadn't even sped up. But his had stopped. Who was she, Jeoljina Boat, and would any man ever know all of her secrets? One man did, and it wasn't him. She was walking back into danger to see him again, daring all to be in his arms again. How he wished it could have been him.

"There's enough water to have a drink and rinse our mouths out, Red; but there's nothing to eat except that dried stuff and not to be ungrateful, I'd just as soon go hungry."

"Me too."

Kenshin gave the meat strips a decent burial in the bamboo grove and returned to find Jina using his comb to smooth her hair. "The first thing I want is a bath. Then a good meal. Then another bath."

"I could use a bath myself, Jina, that I could. And some food sounds good."

"Wish I could get a beefsteak, rare. And fried potatoes." she laughed. "Every time I eat here, people watch me like they're wondering if I will leave any thing in the house to eat. And they're always amazed to see me use chopsticks. I feel sort of like an exotic animal on display." She finished with the comb and twisted her hair up into a knot. "Come here and I'll fix yours."

"No puppy ears!"

"No. Here, I've got this strip of lace I was using to tie it back for you… There. Let's get our _possibles _together." Kenshin assumed the word must mean his bag and sword. Jina strapped on the money belt and used her blade to cut off another long strip of fabric, bringing her shift up to her knees. Then she slipped the quilt over her head as before and tied the strip as its belt. She looked up. "Ready, Kenshin?"

He nodded, not trusting his voice. They turned to look back at the little hut which had been their world for one long day. Kenshin bowed and Georgina followed his motion, but now neither of them could speak. Georgina took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked away, Kenshin following.

On their way back to the road, he cut her a sapling to use as a cane since he knew her feet were sore. She thanked him with a nod, but didn't seem to really need it, walking with a long steady stride, the blue futon robe swinging. Kenshin's strides were a little shorter; she noticed and slowed to let him catch up. They didn't speak at all until the road was visible through the trees in the palest of morning light. Georgina stopped and turned to him.

"This is it, Red. We better get our story straight now before we are seen." She leaned back against a tree trunk.

"What do you mean, Jina?"

"I've been missing for more than a day. Then I show up with you. Where have I been in the meantime? What have I been doing? **Who** have I been doing it with? These are some things that are going to be asked. And we need good answers. Also, you are going to notice that my Japanese is going to get a lot worse, and I don't speak Chinese at all."

"Why?"

She gave him an exasperated look, "Because people talk more in front of those they think can't understand them. My husband needs all of the news and _head-ups _he can get. If I lie _doggo_ and listen, I can be a big help to him." Kenshin looked confused and he had gone totally blank faced on the word _"doggo"._ Georgina took a deep breath. "_Okay_, in my country we have a saying: "Dumb like a fox". That means playing ignorant to fool your possible opponents or prey –get it?"

"Yes that I understand."

"Give the man a _cigar_… Don't ask. Now by pretending to not speak your language well, or any other language but my own, I can hear things and give my husband advanced notice of some events. Things that would affect us directly or things being planned for others which might not be good for them. Then he can take steps to prevent or encourage those things without having anyone the wiser, saving face for everyone. And it is very important to save face, ne? Also, it is harder to ask questions of an ignorant person. Most people won't try too hard. And hard questions are what we don't want, Red."

"That seems like a pretty good idea, lying _doggie_. Could I use it as well?"

"You can if you don't try to pronounce it again. Right now, you're asking me to put your hair back up into puppy ears so you can bark and chase cats. **_DOG/GO_**. It means to lie low, hide your true nature. You'll be great at it, just try to look as blank as you do right now, but in pretend not for real."

"Stop teasing, _bitch_."

"Some times I'm sorry I tried English with you. Don't call a nice lady _bitch_. And don't call a bad lady with a sharp knife _bitch _either. Got it?"

"Sorry. Is there a nicer word for someone who is teasing you, so you let them know you would wish them to stop?"

"_Twit._ …No, Not that one, mispronounce that and it could get your ass kicked for you. Ah, _idiot_! That's a good word, _idiot_."

"What's it mean first?"

"_Gee_, you're suspicious. The closest thing for you would be baka. Why are you laughing?"

"I've got the perfect person to try it out on if we ever meet again some day. Though I'll make sure he doesn't speak English first."

"Okay, I'll stop being an _idiot_ and teasing you. Now, attend to me: You never met me until just before dark yesterday. You had been holed up in the little hut because of the rain and heard what you thought was some kind of wild animal crashing around in the woods. Then you realized that it was a woman crying."

Kenshin looked at her, intent on remembering everything. "What did I do then, Jina?"

"You discovered a very wet, very cold, very scared woman who barely spoke Japanese. You got her under the roof, got the words "Chibimizu" and "help" out of her; and started out at first light to guide her back. You know nothing else. Leave the rest to me."

"What will you say happened?"

"The kidnappers dropped me and I was able to scramble away in the storm. Who's going to contradict me? Watch the faces around us; anyone who blinks at that statement is automatically on the list for suspects. Also, we'll be looking for a bastard with a badly cut arm. Which one did I hit, Red? I didn't get a clear view."

"Right forearm, on the inside. Almost the whole length, he would need stitches. That will be a very big clue. I will watch carefully, Jina."

"We both will. The rest of the story is that I blundered around in the rain, totally lost. I was on the point of lying down to die when you found me and promised to bring me back. _Okay_?"

"_Okeh._ Then we are ready, let's go. What wrong?"

Georgina stood there, tears in her eyes. Then she dropped to her knees in a full koutou, tapping her head on the ground three times three. "Mr. Himura, please accept the thanks of this lonely stranger for your protection and your help. You will always be in my heart and my prayers."

Kenshin knelt and bowed as well, in his own fashion." Madame Jina, Accept the gratitude of a lowly wanderer, a man with nothing, except his wish to serve others. Thank you for my life and my mind which you have saved. And for your laughter which I will always treasure as your greatest gift to me."


	18. Chapter 18

**Back to Chibimizu**

…_Dis-claim is bound for glory, dis-claim. Dis-claim is bound for glory, I ain't_ _telling you a story; dis-claim is leaving get on board!_ …Everybody, sing!

They rose as one and met in a last embrace. The kiss was long and sweet, their breaths mingling as their souls might. For the first time, Kenshin reached out to her with his swordsman's ki training, to try and keep a sense of her always in his mind. He was shocked to find her already there, waiting for him! Her training had given her a ki sense of her own, or **chi** as her Honored Uncles would have called it. She couldn't project it far, but she could communicate by touch. He reached out and they clasped in an embrace even more intimate than their bodies had shared.

Kenshin saw Fredrick through Jina' eyes. A big, mustached man, with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a smile like sun breaking through storm clouds. He saw the love she enveloped his memory with, and the love, steady, strong, and honest, that she received from him. Kenshin felt sorry that he would never meet the man, but it made him feel very good to know she would not be alone in the world…. Odd…There was something…somebody else almost – faint and unformed, but a presence nevertheless. As he turned to focus, it disappeared without trace and all Kenshin could feel was Jina's warm feelings for himself.

Georgina knew he was stronger than she, and was ready when the power of his mind touched hers. She slipped by him to walk into his memories. So much pain and loss, how did he bear it? She looked into the eyes of the woman he had loved and killed, and pitied them both. To never have the sort of love that Fred gave her – what a tragedy. He must be ready, Kenshin must, be ready for the woman who would see just him; not the shadows which he showed the world. But Tomoe was standing in the way. Georgina pushed her back far enough for Kenshin to see beyond her some day; and she felt that the disembodied spirit was grateful.

There was someone else. Questing, forming, not a full being yet, but the potential of one. Georgina covered it with a flood of emotions for Kenshin and moved to break their connection. The card was dealt, but it hadn't hit the table yet. She could not let him know that the game even existed; it would destroy them all. "It's all right." her gambler's nerve whispered ", just keep calm and watch for the play to finish. You'll win the pot yet."

They parted, but knew that now they would always carry a faint sense of each other as long as they lived and breathed in this world. It would be all they would have -would it be enough?

Georgina turned and walked down to the roadway, Kenshin behind. They started down towards Chibimizu, not speaking, just walking with each other, and touching without being touched. Half a mile passed, and they heard faint shouts and calls of men ahead. "Madame! Madame! Where are you? "

Kenshin turned towards her and for a brief flash, Georgina knew he was tempted again to grab her and run as fast as possible away from the voices. To keep her with him always; to not be alone, cold and empty, as he had been just a short time ago. "You aren't alone, Kenshin." she said out loud ", you'll always know that I'm alive and I will know about you, if little else will get through. It's more than many people ever get, to know that someone out there in the world cares for them. Please let it be enough."

He nodded- eyes huge and filled with tears. "It must be, Jina, even though I wish it could be more. What do you want me to do?"

"Run ahead and call them. Remember, Red, from this time on, we will never be alone. Follow my lead, watch what you say, or there will be questions asked we don't want to answer. Goodbye, Red- I will always be your friend." She began to limp heavily, leaning hard on the stick that he had cut her.

"I will be careful, Jina. Goodbye. I will love you everyday of my life, my dearest friend, and true companion." He looked into her autumn pool eyes one more time.

"Go and get them, before I change my mind. Sing out, Red! It's time to go face the enemy and kick their ass for them!"

Kenshin bowed one last time and ran off down the road. Georgina allowed herself to finally weep for her lover, tears she would not have shown him without the cover of it being an "act" to fool their enemies. She prayed he would one day find joy and peace. Then she turned her mind to the man who was her true love – the man who was strong enough to take her as she was and love her for it. She hoped that he would not be at the inn already, it would be too awkward, but she wanted to be back in his arms soon. The last flip of the card would happen in Fredrick's bed, and if there had been another ace slipped into the deck, no one but she would ever know.

The next few hours were a maelstrom of questions, arguments, apologies, and explanantions: "No, she was fine – the bad men had dropped her in fear at a bad flash of lightening and she had run away into the woods to hide. She was cold and tired – couldn't she have a bath now? Leave Mr. Himura alone, please – he was a good man who found her in the storm. No, he wasn't a kidnapper – how was he going to kidnap somebody as big as she by himself? Had he brought a winch or something in that little bag? No she had not meant to be disrespectful of the Lieutenant-sama – she just did not understand well enough. She wanted a bath, she was hungry. Mr. Himura was hungry too; they had better feed the poor little boy. Had they caught the bad men? No? Was anyone hurt? Good, good, just bumps and scratches except for poor Sergeant Nohgiro who had a bad cut on his right arm – what a brave man to defend a stranger like that, she must see him to thank him. But first a bath. Yes, yes, she would see the doctor, but she wanted a bath first - _Right now you goddamn sonsabitches!_ No, she didn't know why Mr. Himura was laughing, Honorable Lieutenant-sama, go and ask him yourself here's my maid. I'm going to have a bath right now _and you can kiss my ass_, Lieutenant-sama. I don't why the red head is laughing –I said go ask him."

Kenshin answered questions as badly as he could, trying not to break a rib laughing when Jina laced her bad Japanese with English curses in a wonderfully sweet tired voice. "What a poor helpless foreign woman! Yes she was very frightened and wet when he found her crying last night. He barely could understand her bad Japanese, why did the foolish men of her country let her out alone like that? No he didn't know what _little idiot_ meant, Lieutenant, he didn't speak any English. He was very hungry. He hadn't seen anyone on his way towards the springs before the storm, so he didn't know where any kidnappers might have gone. He was glad to hear that only one man was badly hurt, it must be hard on the Lieutenant-san to have had this happen on his watch. Oh, he wasn't on duty? He had been asleep with his troop at the far end of the inn and everything had gotten mixed up in the storm and the excitement? How sad. Yes, she was very noisy, that big woman, maybe if they let her take that bath she wanted so bad she would shut up? No, he didn't know what _watch the son of a bitch in front of you _meant, but maybe he had better bow so she would stop fussing so much? There, see, she did stop. Why was he laughing? Well, wasn't it funny to see such a silly woman? No Japanese woman would act like that! Yes, he was starving, and after he ate he would love a bath…"

Kenshin sat sipping tea in a clean quiet room of the Chibimizu Inn. He was wearing clean clothing that the inn provided for its guests, a white yukata and haori pants printed with designs that incorporated the kanji's for the Inn's name. He had eaten very well while being interviewed by the Captain; who told him that Madame Undersecretary had been examined by the doctor and was resting comfortably even though she had been badly bruised in her flight. She wished that he would wait and allow her to thank him in the morning. Kenshin agreed. It would be very nice for a poor wandering fool such as himself to sleep warm for one night. And clean. The bath had been wonderful, and he was so very tired. The woman had kept him up most of the night with her crying. Where was the Lady's room? Four doors straight down this veranda? Well, that was far enough for him not to have to hear her tonight. He bid the Captain a good night and turned back into the room.

A young girl in a kimono, followed by a servant, hailed him from the hallway. She was Shiori, Madame Jina's maid. The Lady had sent her to ask after his health and to send him some sweets that she had enjoyed very much. Please eat them all, this inn had very pretty serving ware and her mistress wanted him to look at it closely. She would be lying _doggo_ to see what happened. She bowed and left.

Kenshin brushed the sweets off the plate. Written in a circle around the inside edge was: More soldiers will be here tomorrow. They will have to hit tonight. Listen for your nickname, Red! Kenshin washed off the writing with some tea and sat back to munch the sweets. She tasted better.


	19. Chapter 19

**Havoc!**

_Cry havoc! And release the Rurouni Kenshin Disclaimers of War! _

Thanks to_ scythe195_ for the review. Please let me know what you think of this one. _Marlingrl_, I would also appreciate your criticism... **_Mouse_,** get off my leg! You're embarrassing the gerbils!

Kenshin lay with his back to the outside shoji, breathing slowly and deeply. Every nerve was strained to hear the attackers' approach – he would much rather get to them before they ever came near to Jina. Soft footsteps came up from both the hall and veranda sides of his room, the heavier footsteps of men. One set stopped in front of the outside door and it was opened a tiny snick. He didn't move or change his breathing in any way. Footsteps in the hallway paused and snicked that shoji open as well. Then those footsteps continued down the hall. The one out side was still on watch, but Kenshin could feel more men moving past his room. They were going to make the main assault from the garden then, the hallway group was just to fend off any defenders.

Kenshin gritted his teeth in frustration. If he moved now, it would tip off their opponents. He would have to wait for Jina. Moments seemed to creep as he prepared to go through the wall into the hallway and attack at the weakest point. He would be able to get her away quickly, if she would go. Through their connection, he could feel a thrumming anger at her treatment by these men and she would not willingly go without striking out at them. He'd knock her out if he had to.

A shoji slid open in the distance, followed by a muffled grunt and thud. Suddenly a woman's voice screamed **"NINJA!",** while a second woman's voice called out -"**_RED!"_**

Kenshin was through the door and down the hall before the echo faded. The inn burst into noise as he ran down the hall, where two men were struggling with Shiori as she tried to get past them. She was standing on the body of a third man who lay motionless under the trampling feet. Kenshin hit the nearest, and the maid broke free – fleeing down the hallway shouting for help. The second man was quicker, and in the darkness he was able to cross blades momentarily with the slashing rurouni. Kenshin heard the sounds of struggle in the next room and felt his eyes begin to burn. He slammed the man away by brute force and turned to look into the dimly lit room.

It was full of struggling men, some in uniform, some not. In the middle stood a tall figure in a white yukata, too-short haori pants, and flat black velvet shoes. She was in a half-crouch, right leg bent beneath her like a spring, left leg stretched to stabilize her pose. She looked up and saw him, her eyes shining in the lamplight. "Hit the ones in uniform!" she yelled in Japanese. "That's the traitors' outfit tonight!"

A big man, favoring his right arm, sprang at her with a curse. Kenshin was blocked in the doorway, slamming away at both friend and foe in his desperation to get to her… And in one smooth move, she swung up on her bent leg; spinning clockwise to meet her attacker. She pushed the blade away with her open right hand as if brushing away a fly. Then her left elbow and knee smashed into the man's throat and gut at the same time, making him give a strangled scream and collapse, gagging, at her feet. She wound up in a mirror image of her previous stance ready for more.

Her harsh scream of fury split the room, the words in excellent Chinese -"Lay a hand on an _American_ citizen – you dogshead bastard! Cha, Red, send me some more asses to kick!" The voice and the words sent a shockwave through the room. Everyone stopped frozen for a second, unable to comprehend what they were hearing. Everyone, except Kenshin Himura, who laughed and continued to smash down anyone in a uniform he could reach. Gods, she was magnificent!

"Lieutenant!" shouted the Captain's voice, and two men spun into the room, swords locked. The rest of the room erupted back into violence, but the traitors were rapidly losing both men and nerve. The Captain, clad in a sleeping robe, drove the uniformed Lieutenant back towards Jina. Kenshin screamed a warning and began to move as the Lieutenant feinted and drove a fist into the Captain's gut, knocking him back several paces. Then he turned on the woman, sword held for a killing stroke…

Time stopped for Kenshin. The lieutenant wasn't just a thug; he was a well-trained soldier, an expert in the sword. Jina wouldn't have a chance. Kenshin flipped the blade of his sakabato. If Jina died, the Lieutenant would surely follow her to hell along with every one of his men in this room. He could taste and smell the blood now, but he didn't care, he would become a Hitokiri again if she died and go to hell himself.

Jina almost casually ducked the swordstroke and broke the Lieutenant's left knee. The she gave him a short powerful blow to the breastbone, slamming him down to the floor in a sitting position. His sword flew over towards the Captain who stepped on it.

"Stop right now!" the Captain roared. "It's over! Give up or die, you traitors!" The few uniformed men left standing lost all of their nerve and sank to the floor, hands behind their heads. Kenshin leapt over some and reached the big woman's side.

"Jina, are you all right?" he asked in Chinese.

"Never better, Red." She answered in the same language. "Is that all of them?"

"Yes, I believe so. Captain, how many of your men are hurt or dead? Do you have enough to watch the prisoners?"

The Captain shut his open mouth with a gulp. He answered, also in Chinese "I don't think anyone is dead yet, though one or two are badly hurt on both sides. Corporal, go and get whatever rope or cordage the inn has and start tying these traitors up... What's wrong with the Lieutenant, Mr.Himura?" The two men walked over to stare at the struggling, gasping man who seemed to be fading right before their eyes for no good reason.

"He's dying." said Georgina, coldly. "I hit him so that he can't breathe unless I release him. A rope is too quick, the bastard can suffocate right here where I can enjoy the show." She crouched down about three feet away from the choking man, who could do nothing but scrabble at the floor in his agony. "I hope you enjoy hell, dogshead. You're going there soon."

"Jina, don't. Don't kill him."

"What?"

"Please don't. Don't let my madness become yours. I never want to think of you with your hands stained by a man's lifeblood. Even if he is evil, let him live to face the justice he deserves." Kenshin prayed his words would reach through her anger.

"Do you promise me justice, Kenshin? After the bullshit you described in your government? Who will see him punished for his treachery?"

"I will." said the Captain, bowing"Please allow me to make up for my poor protection of you by making sure the guilty are punished. This man cannot be working alone, we need his knowledge. Please, Honorable Lady?"

Kenshin crouched into a humble bow onto the tatamis, head against the floor. "Please listen to the Captain, Jina. Leave this man his life, if not for justice's sake then for mine. I do not want to see him die knowing I am helpless to stop it." He looked up into her eyes." Please for the sake of this wanderer. Save him."

Georgina made a disgusted snort, stood and walked around to the Lieutenant's back. In perfect Japanese, she said "I hope you were listening close, you_ cocksucker_. When you wake up you, should offer to tell us everything you know, or on my Mother's grave, I will finish you and no one will stop me." She gave him a swift kick between his fifth and sixth ribs on the right side of his body. The man drew in a huge gulp of air and passed out.

"Thank you, Jina. I know the Captain thanks you as well." Kenshin stood and joined the Captain in another bow before the angry woman.

"Fuck that, Kenshin. If it had been just the Captain, this bastard would be dead." She quite deliberately stomped her heel into the unconscious man's groin, then walked across to deal the same vicious blow to the slowly recovering Sergeant, who collapsed again with a piercing shriek.

"Jina!"

"You asked me not to kill them. You didn't say I couldn't make them hurt like hell. Where's the first bastard I nailed through the hall door? I've got something for him too."

Kenshin jumped into her path and grabbed her in his arms. "Stop, Jina! I don't want to remember you like this" He pulled up her right sleeve, showing the fingerprint bruises there. "You forgave me for far worse, remember? Please!" They were both suddenly aware of the Captain's eyes upon them and they stood apart quickly. Georgina drew in a ragged breath.

"You are right, Mr. Himura. I should have not let my anger run away with me. Please excuse me, gentlemen. Is there another room where I could go to compose myself? I should also check on my young maid, Shiori. Did you see her, Mr. Himura?"

"Yes, she ran past me to spread the alarm, I am certain she is safe. Captain?"

"Please escort the lady to your room, Mr. Himura and then return here to assist us in getting this mess tied up." - I don't know who or what you two are to each other, but it's none of my business. You and she have saved my life and career. And I don't want her to do to me what she did to the Lieutenant!


	20. Moonlight Conversations 1

: **Moonlight Conversations #1**

I would enjoy disclaiming much more if it wasn't quite so…repetitive. Disclaiming twenty or more times is a little tiring. And boring. And repetitive…Wait, I already said that, didn't I? Watsuki-san owns Kenshin and all his friends. I own Georgina, and I bet she could kick Kaoru's ass for her. But she wouldn't want to upset Red.

They sat facing the opened veranda shojis in the room that had been Kenshin's. The Captain stole peeps at the big woman from the corner of his eye as she sat sipping tea and munching snacks, as if she had not just been involved in a battle which could have cost her life. She sat in a lotus position, a dark grey western robe spread out over her shoulders for warmth. She had undone the braid of her hair and retied it into a high tail which rippled down her back. The Captain had worn his own hair so, back when he was a young warrior; and he had to admit it suited her as well. The Lady was a weird mix of male and female, east and west, warrior and woman. He admired her beyond words, and was glad that after tomorrow he would not be responsible for her anymore. She and her little redheaded friend were too dangerous a combination.

Captain Mikawa had been in the north during most of the Revolution, fighting for the Imperialists. But even there, stories had been told of a ferocious Hitokiri. A child who killed like a demon; allowing those who ran to live, but destroying all those who stood against him. A boy with red hair and a crossed scar. When he had swung through the door with the Lieutenant, Mikawa had seen the small man's eyes burning like candle flames in the dimness. Any who were in his path fell before him, but not one had died. From what he had told the Lady, he had taken a vow to preserve life, as he once had taken it. No one but he could have stopped her from taking her vengeance. He wondered - what she had forgiven Himura for? Something to do with the bruising on her body. The doctor had said she had bruises on her...

Mikawa sipped his tea and tried to puzzle it out. He must always be grateful to these two for saving him from eternal shame. But if what he thought was true, there would be no harm in gaining a hold over these powerful warriors. He was certain something had passed between them. The woman was calm and polite, treating both men with equal courtesy, her Japanese perfect, if softly accented. The young man watched her as if she was made of diamond, a shimmering treasure harder than steel and dangerous in her strange beauty. If he gave them a chance to be alone…

"Mikawa-san? I wanted to know if you had any news from my husband!"

"Sorry, Madame, I was just thinking about something else. Yes, I received a message just a few minutes ago. A representative of the government will be here in the morning and your husband should be arriving after noon. I know you will be glad to see him, and he will be happy to meet Himura-san." Let's see if he will stay, Mikawa thought, if he doesn't, I'm right and I can drop bait for these big fish.

"I am just a wanderer that I am, Captain; and I have already tarried too long. I shall be leaving in the morning, if I am not needed here. Am I?"

"Not really, Himura-san. Between the Lady's and my testimony and the confessions I have already received from the traitors, there should be no problem in getting convictions and arresting the conspirators. To think that General Kobo was behind it, both to gain money from ransom and to cause an incident to drive our countries apart." I've got you, Mikawa thought, you _have _bedded together! But I'll have no proof unless you are seen here. I'll make sure to give you some privacy and see what happens.

"Yes, the General took a dislike to my husband when he recommended that your government spend more money on improving your infrastructure for trade than on buying more powerful weapons for the army. He believes a prosperous peace is better than wars of conquest."

"May I compliment you on your skill in our language, Lady, and also the purity of your Nanking dialect? I did not realize you spoke it so well." Mikawa wondered desperately if he had said anything insulting, thinking she had no way to understand.

"Thank you Mikawa-san. My Japanese becomes much worse when I am upset or frightened, as Himura-san could tell you. I learned that dialect of Chinese in my youth and have never forgotten. It is very important to understand what is said around you, neh? Though I had a hard time not responding when your traitorous Lieutenant asked out loud how a cow could learn to walk on two feet. I did not hear your response, but I am sure you pointed out the terrible manners, even if he said it in a language he thought I did not know." The Captain choked a little on a sip of tea, and mutely nodded in agreement; glad that his blush of shame could not be seen in the dimness.

Kenshin bit the inside of his cheek to not laugh out loud at the uncomfortable man sitting next to him. He knew that Jina had heard the Captain not take his second to task for the remark, if he hadn't agreed out loud, and she was giving him a sharp pinch in his pride for it. He had been the butt of her teasing enough; it was nice to see someone else get tweaked for a while. He looked over at the profile in the moonlight. She looked straight ahead, but he could see the lift at the corner of her mouth, the lift that made her smile crooked. He longed to kiss that smile. He had to laugh at himself; for someone who hadn't even known about kissing two days ago, he was missing it more than he thought possible. He wanted to touch her, to lie in her arms, and to hear her voice singing. The maid was softly snoring behind them, wrapped in quilts. If the Captain would just leave…

The Captain bowed to them both. "I believe I will go get some rest now. Mr. Himura, there is a room available for you directly across the garden from this one. I have set strong guards at the far ends of this hall for the Lady, but if you wish to stay here and guard her yourself –"

"Himura-san will need that room, Captain. He will need to get his own rest if he is to leave in the morning. May we have breakfast together before you go, young man? I would like to thank you again for all of your help, Mr.Himura. You will? Excellent. Then good night Captain, I will have two more words with Himura-san here and then sit and compose myself a bit before I try to sleep." The older man bowed and got up to leave. "Tell me Mikawa-san, are you an avid fisherman?"

"What? Oh yes, I enjoy it very much, Lady. Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking about a great fish that lives in some rivers of my country. We call it a _sturgeon_; I don't know if you have it here. They can live to be very great and very old; do you know why?"

"No, Lady."

"Because they stay in deep waters and don't take baits. Goodnight Angler-san." She bowed gracefully and watched the flustered man bow back and walk away.

"He knows, Jina?"

"He is guessing, but it was worth letting him know we won't be played with. He owes us his ass, and I am not going to let him forget it. He should have figured it out after the first hit, letting a second try happen was just stupid. That's why I didn't give him any warning about the traitors; his silence would have been a red flag that something was up. My own temper gave him the clue, and I am sorry that you had to beg like that for the bastard's life. Though you still should have let me give them a few more smacks to remember me by!"

"They will remember you for a long time, and I don't think that they will want a woman any where near them for a while. I should have seen what was coming and gotten there first, so you wouldn't have to fight. You are a warrior. You should have been a general, Jina-chan. I see your wisdom, but I wish that we had one more…"

"Stop right there, Red. We finished it this morning, now nothing is left but the goodbyes. Tonight proved the wisdom of that decision. I shocked you with what I did and with what I was willing to allow happen. "

"I admit that I did not know you could fight like that. Or be so vengeful. But the men did not die; you have no one's blood on your hands as I do." The woman said nothing, looking straight ahead into the garden. "Jina, tell me you haven't ?"

"You know, the best way to avoid an answer you won't like is to not ask the question, Red-chan. " She turned to look at the man she had forgiven for his attack upon her, her face and eyes hidden by shadow. He looked so – stricken and upset as if he had been slapped across the face.

She continued. "Where and when I grew up, death was never far away. From any number of causes. The strong lived; the weak found a strong protector or died. Or worse. I learned early that when you are attacked, never stop the fight until your opponent won't be getting back off the floor. This is how a little girl survived in a world of hard men. By being just as hard, and faster to react, both to get out of the way and to react to trouble." She remembered that bastard when she was fifteen, dragging her by the hair, ripping at her bodice with filthy hands; thinking she would be helpless because she was alone. The knife had broken off in his chest and she had kicked the blade in deep to finish him. After that was known, she had walked the Barbary Coast area without undue fear, to visit the friends in Chinatown she had made in the old days. Her father knew he couldn't stop her, that's why he gave her a knife that wouldn't break, and she had never been afraid to blood it

Kenshin was remembering words she had said, words that he had lost in her warmth and her laughter. "I couldn't get my knife out till they dropped me…Do you think the one I got bled out? ...My father gave me the blade - and the belt when I was eighteen. He knew he couldn't stop me and he wanted me to have an edge…" She had killed; he was sure of it; and without remorse or hesitation. She would have killed again tonight, if he hadn't stopped her. The man would have suffocated at her feet while she stood and watched...

Well, kids, we're turning for home. There's the second half of this and then the final chapter. I would like to thank my faithful reviewers: _Marlingrl_ and _scythe195 _for their criticism and back patting. I am working on the other story I mentioned, and will hope to have something to whip out for y'all soon.

Will our two friends see each other ever again? If I can think of a plausible way, perhaps. But remember, the sweetest love stories are often the saddest.


	21. Moonlight Conversations 2

**Moonlight Conversations 2**

See part one for disclaimer. I'm tired of thinking up new ones. Even the gerbils are tired. Mouse snores, did I mention that?

Kenshin's voice was soft and low. "Why am I alive then, Georgina? These men tonight tried to kidnap you, yes. But the one who came closest to death had never even touched you! In my madness, I drove myself upon you; I tried to hurt you and make you fear me. Why then do I deserve the mercy you would not have given them unless I begged you for it?"

"Because they were after nothing but money, and a stupid idea for a power play that would have thrown your country into more war. Because they insulted me. Because they endangered my husband's peace of mind with their stupidity. He cannot lose me; I am his anchor until there is someone else for him to love as much. Those who threaten me and mine will receive little mercy from me if they have such petty reasons to hurt me." She turned so that the man could see her face and eyes clearly. "You were mad, Kenshin, as you said yourself. Mad with pain, despair, and fury at your life. You struck out in fear and pain, and should I have killed you for that? Not while there was a chance for your redemption. You caused me no harm; I told you that you wouldn't, and you took nothing from me that I wasn't willing to give you. We stood out side the world for that long day, and what happened then hurts no one. "

"But your husband?"

"Knows nothing and never will. You did not cause him fear and pain, these fools did. I am only sorry that you cannot meet, it would be too awkward for you, and you're not that good an actor." Moreover, I don't want him to see your hair or eye color either, that way there is no questions if my luck pans out.

"You have no fear that he will know it of you, Jina? That he will not feel me in your mind?"

"He does not have the training you and I have had. He is mind-blind to the **chi**. As for the rest; a woman lives most of her life in her own head. I can keep my own consul, if there is no evidence to the contrary. You will be long gone and the Captain is too afraid of us to pull anything."

Kenshin had to laugh at that. "True! He said that the traitors were so willing to talk because he threatened to set you back upon them, with me as your second. They were terrified of the "Devil Woman" and told him everything they knew! He would not wish to meet you in battle himself, he said. I wish I could meet your husband, Jina. He must be a very good man to hold such love from you."

"He is one of the two best men I have ever known, Red. You are the other. Remember, if you had not been there, I would have died in the road last night for striking out in the darkness. But he is my life, and I can only hope to be and give him everything he wants in this world. Your turn will come. Love will find you, just be careful to watch for it and don't let it get away from you. You think so much of others that you forget you have needs too, Red. The greatest is to never be alone, I think. And now, because what has been between us, you never will be alone again… It's time to go to bed Kenshin. Good night and I will see you at breakfast."

He bowed, unable to speak. It was true, he always felt her now, a presence in the back of his mind. Like, and yet unlike, Tomoe. Because she was alive and in this world and she had shared herself with him for no other reason except that she had wanted to.

The new room seemed so empty, the futons cold. He missed her breathing, the warmth of her body; that faint sweet smell she carried with her, mixed with the scent of her flesh. He tossed and turned, and thought about getting up to just sit and look out into the gardens until it was time to leave, to say a final goodbye. He even thought of slipping away now, but again her courage stopped him. How could he run from her after she had faced him at his worst? Besides, he remembered, his clothing had been taken to be washed, and all he had in the world was a torn yukata. He wouldn't get too far in cold weather with just that.

The sound of a woman's voice floated across the air. The song was slow, the words in a language he did not know, most likely her own tongue. It was lovely and sad at once; in the way of the meeting and parting of friends was lovely and sad.

…Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming all alone

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone

No flower of her kindred

No rose bud is nigh,

To reflect her blushes

Or give sigh for sigh…

Kenshin closed his eyes, and was back in the peaceful garden watching the leaves spin, black, copper-brown, green, and gold.

_……..The song is "The Last Rose of Summer" a very old poem which is also an old and lovely folk song I learned in my youth. I just thought it fit_.


	22. Wanderers

**Wanderers**

It's time to say goodbye to these two characters. Thanks to Watsuki-san, we know what will be in Kenshin's future. As for Georgina and her gamble – who's to say? I have a bet with my Mouse. A pretty cheesy early Nineties song gave me the idea for this story. If the Mouse can guess it, there is a prize. If the Mouse can't guess it, I get some hand-dipped chocolate almonds. The gerbils, Zoot and Rapatullia, (don't ask, it's just what they looked like), will get new chewies. Can you tell?

...Kenshin slept so soundly that he was shocked to hear a cough outside his room in the early light. Usually, he would have heard them long before, Jina's singing must have driven away his dreams and allowed him to sleep far more deeply. He sat up and answered the tap that now came at the door.

The young maid, Shiori, came in. She still looked a little tired from the stress of last night, but she gave Kenshin a wide smile as she bowed politely. "Himura-san, my Lady wishes you a good morning and asks if you will be ready for breakfast soon. She says she's starving!" She giggled. "She sends you this letter and these few things for your journey." The girl motioned to several servants in the hall, who brought in trays of items covered properly with white cloth. "The Lady said to give you this letter, and she will await you in the garden teahouse." Before Kenshin could reply the girl and the servants bowed and left.

Kenshin sat with the letter in his hands. She brushed a clearly legible script, better than his. "Dear Red, The dawn comes on the day of our parting. Please accept these few items from a grateful friend to give you comfort on the road before you. Don't say no. If you do, I'll be insulted, and how will I be able to insult you back now? It would be too great a shameful burden on my weak woman's heart... Does that sound as pompous and stupid as I think it does? Get dressed and come to breakfast, my friend. I'm hungry and there isn't a dried meat strip in sight, so we're safe. Yours, _**Persimmon**_"

He remembered the joke he had made comparing her to the fruit, and the way she had "insulted" him back. He had to smile at the thought, though it gave him pain to know that she could never be able to be with him again in that way. He reached into the back of his mind and found the thread of her there, where she would always be. And it would have to be enough.

Kenshin took care of his morning needs and knelt in front of the trays. There was a set of sturdy traveling clothes in a soft brown, not new, but good and nothing that would draw attention to a man. Loin and waistcloths, tabis of several different colors, a warm blanket, plus an oiled cloak for rainy weather. Packages of bandaging, and a little kit of medicines plus several new hair ties and a tiny sewing kit. Dried meat, fruit, rice, and tea. Nothing heavy, nothing bulky, everything which would be good and appropriate for a journey and would fit in his little bag. The last tray held two yukatas and a wrapped package with the words "for good times" brushed on it in Georgina's hand. It was a heavy fine silk hakima in a brilliant crimson red with a pair of white silk haori pants. She must have wrapped these herself, they smelled faintly of her. For good times? He would never let these go.

He dressed quickly, tucking the tiny scrap of lace she had given him into the little box of his sewing kit, along with her letter. He packed his bag and left it by the veranda shojis. Then he walked out into the sunlit garden, heading for the little tea house at the far end. It was set several feet off the ground; at its foot was a tiny pond of koi. Georgina sat on the narrow porch, tossing crumbs to the fish.

She was dressed in western style, except for her black velvet shoes. A form fitting dress of dove-grey with touches of lace at the neck and wrists. Her hair was braided and wound into a crown, making her seem even taller than usual as she rose to bow before him, hands in her sleeves, Chinese fashion. Kenshin bowed back and accompanied her up into the tiny room she had to bend almost in half to enter. The shoji's on both sides were open, allowing everyone who wished to look to see how they sat a polite distance from each other. She had taken off her shoes and sat back on her white-socked feet.

"Good morning Himura-san. Have you had rice yet?" She asked in Chinese.

"No I haven't Lady; I am looking forward to a good breakfast before I leave. Please excuse my tardiness." They chattered on like this while the servers brought out the trays and tea. They sat side by side instead of across from each other, their backs towards the main part of the inn. Anyone who might try to see what they were saying could not approach without their knowledge. The maid took her own breakfast on the teahouse's bottom step, a proper chaperone, but out of hearing if words were spoken softly.

"Please eat, Red. I'm starving myself." Georgina picked up a bowl of congee and deftly snagged a bit of salted fish with her chopsticks. She put it in her mouth with a sigh. "Please, Red, not you too!"

"What, Jina?"

"Don't watch me use chopsticks as if I was a trained bear. I swear I'm charging admission for the show. It will help pay for the extra food I eat, ne?" Her laugh rang across the garden, along with Kenshin's embarrassed giggle. He bent his attention on the food and they were silent for a while.

"Here, try the dried persimmons. Unless you're tired of them."

"Oh, no Jina. I think persimmons will be my favorite thing to eat for the rest of my life, that they will. If I can't have something better in my mouth, that is." He watched her blush - he didn't think it was possible, but Georgina could be shy. He may have made her blush before yet not have seen it in the dimness of the hut. "Thank you very much for your gifts, where did you get everything so fast?"

"Captain Mikawa can't do enough for us, it seems. I told him what I wanted, and poof! There it was. Except for the festival outfit, I picked that out myself. You should have something to look good in for special occasions, and I think that your hair won't clash with that red. It will just make you look even more beautiful. If you only wear it for special times, it shouldn't fade like it would if you washed and wore it constantly. The stuff you have on now is used, but in very good shape and will keep you warm. If I can't wrap my arms around you, at least I can surround you with another type of warmth." This time it was Kenshin's turn to blush.

She poured them tea and they sat quietly, reaching out along their mental connection; strong now because they were so close. He could smell her sweet scent waft towards him on the warming breeze. "It will be a good day for traveling, Jina. Will you stay here after your husband arrives or leave at once?"

"I imagine we'll stay, it's a long trip from Yokihama and Fred and I will have some catching up to do." And I'll have some covering up to do. But when I look down into my heart, I get a stronger and stronger response from whatever is trying to create itself using my body as its vessel. I'll know for sure in a little while... till then Georgina, be thou of the Tao, let the world slide by you as water slides past the stone. "I'm sorry, Red-chan. You were saying?"

"You will tell him about me? Will he not think it odd that I have left?"

"How could I not tell him about you? You have saved my life and I know he will be eternally grateful. But I will also tell him a little of what you told me about your past and the present government. He will understand that you wish to be long gone in case you were known and will not wish to expose you to danger by looking for you." But I won't be describing you except as a very young man who appeared to be almost a child. Let him think that you look like an average young Japanese boy, dark-haired and dark eyed. "He will wish to include you in his prayers, as I will for the rest of my life." She bowed to him as the servants removed the now empty trays and poured them both more tea. The time was almost here and it tore her apart to see him go. But he had to; there was no future for him here. There could not be. Fredrick was her love, and perhaps soon another would be present for her to love as well. Kenshin would be a sweet memory of a magic day, except that she would always feel him breathing in the back of her mind as she had felt him breathing into her hair yesterday morning in that little hut. She would miss him, yet she would never lose him totally. It was an extra gift he had given her.

She slid a small paper package, wrapped in the form of a magnolia blossom, across to him. "Please take this final gift on your road. A little something to ease the way, ne?"

Kenshin looked down at it. He knew it had to be a tidy sum, probably in small coins so they wouldn't draw attention when they were spent by a wanderer. He didn't want her money, or her gifts. He wanted her. She was a wanderer too, moving between cultures and countries, a woman able to take the strains of the life he had chosen. She would be his shelter from the darkness of the night. She would be his warmth. He looked up into her eyes, ready to politely refuse everything, demand his old things back and leave. If she would not be his, he didn't need things that would only prolong his life and his misery.

The autumn pool eyes were steady and he felt her reach across to him without touching. "You will never be alone Kenshin. Someone in this world will always be thinking of you. It's more than most people ever get. Take it and be grateful for the memories of joy." When she spoke out loud, the sound of her real voice made him jump.

"Please Red, there is so much I would like to do for the people of your beautiful land, but I am bound by protocol and prejudice. You will make sure this goes where it is most needed and spent on those who need it the most. It is to help you on your path to healing your heart. Please accept it." She held his eyes, and he knew she was right, as she had been right all along. He picked up the little bundle and slipped it into his sleeve.

"Thank you, Jina-chan. I will make sure your gifts are not wasted. Any of them."

They heard loud voices from the inn. A man was asking questions about what had happened and where was the Madame Undersecretary? He needed to see her immediately, to make the apologies for his government. Her husband was due in a few hours and everything had better be fine! Kenshin and Georgina's gazes met one last time. She turned to face him and bowed low, her head on the floor.

"Goodbye, my little Red. May the road be kind to you and may you find the peace you deserve."

He bowed back, equally low. "Fare you well, Jina-chan. May your life be one of joy. I know that I need not wish for you to have love." He stood and turned to go down the steps. She turned her back, so she wouldn't have to see him go. He bowed to the maid, who returned the gesture and joined her mistress.

Captain Mikawa met him on his way back to pick up his bag. "You are leaving then, Himura-san? This is Togo Katanabe-san, here to represent our government. I have assured him that the Lady is in good health after her ordeal. Did you have a good breakfast together?"

"Greetings, Togo-san. Yes Captain, the Lady is very bright this morning and has a good appetite. I feel that her husband will have no worries about her health."

"Well, at least that's something." The sweating, business-suited man said, sketching a small bow to the plainly dressed boy before him. "She has caused us so much trouble! I wish that they would keep their women at home, instead of letting them wander around like loose horses. It was just asking for trouble."

Kenshin watched the Captain wince. Georgina was close enough to hear the man plainly, and even though she would be lying _doggo_, it was still not right for her not to be defended. But how to do it without giving her away?

"Well, come along Captain, it's time to go deal with this disagreeable situation. Farewell, Himura-san, thank you on your government's behalf for your assistance to the Lady."

"It was my pleasure to help a visitor, Togo-san. Tell me, do you speak the Lady's native language?"

"No, not a word. But the Captain says she can make herself understood in ours, if badly. Why?"

"Well the Lady taught me a few phrases to pass the time on that cold wet night. I believe I can truly say: _Sir, you are a damn cocksucker son of a bitch_. Good day to both of you gentlemen. Why is she laughing like that Togo-san? Perhaps she heard something amusing from her maid. Yes, they do laugh loudly, those foreigners. Good bye." He caught the Captain's eye and saw that the man knew something was up, but didn't want to know anything more.

Kenshin picked up his bag and walked from the inn, hearing Jina's laughter ring out behind him. "Good shot, _Red_! _Cocksucker son of a bitch!_ Couldn't have said it better myself! Don't worry though; nobody takes me on without paying. Go with God, my friend!"

That fool has just bought himself a world of hurt, Kenshin thought, and walked back towards the little village that he had left a few days before. Time to get back to his mission and start spreading Jina's gift. The money –and the laughter.

_I'm done! Time to move onto the next story! Has anyone seen Master Hiko? He hasn't returned my book yet, and I'm afraid the gerbils will be getting out! Yes, Mouse, I _told_ you it was for the gerbils...you're so suspicious. No I don't know why that little bag is making a clanking sound when you kick it. Did you get those S-hooks I asked for? I'm going to hang..._Plant_s..., yes, plants! (Tune in for further developments, kids.)_


End file.
